HIRSUTE CHARACTERISTICS 299 



lower strata. The woolly head-covering, more- 

 over, is of a dirty yellowish white. I have seen 

 no cases of Zanthism, although I understand it is 

 not unknown. 



The growth which crowns the head of the native 

 of these regions is of dull black, and curls itself all 

 over the scalp in an unbroken covering of tight 

 little circles. The same woolly hair occurs on the 

 pubes, and under the arm-pits, where, however, it 

 is somewhat less harsh. Some cases occur in which 

 the chest is seen to exhibit a thick growth, which 

 appears in small bunches ; in these latter, hairs on 

 the legs are also noticeable. In my experience, 

 however, hirsute adornment of the body is excep- 

 tional ; but where it occurs the negro does not 

 attempt to remove it, as he would in other parts of 

 the continent with which I am familiar, confining 

 his tonsorial operations to the shaving of his head 

 in the hot weather, a habit adopted for reasons of 

 cleanliness as well as of coolness. In the southern 

 part of the region, I have seen natives who allow 

 their hair to grow to considerable length, and even 

 plait it into small tails. Hair on the face is not 

 very general, although in the case of a journey 

 up the Zambezi isolated cases may be observed 

 of very well developed beards, and long if some- 

 what thinly grown moustaches. 



The women, it must be frankly confessed, are 

 not very comely to European eyes. They are 

 more punctilious in shaving the head than are the 

 men, and, in addition, regard it as a point of 

 personal cleanliness to remove all body hairs also. 

 Their bare skuUs, for one thing, contribute largely 



