SINGULAR DISSIPATION. 443 



by this kind of dissipation into the intercourse with 

 the traders, just as in modern times, "fire water" 

 for Indians, and opium for the Chinese are cm- 

 ployed to effect a similar object. This receives 

 further confirmation from the fact, that the secluded 

 Gongas of the present clay live entirely upon vege- 

 tables, the ensete plant and grain forming the 

 principal food. In Zingero and Enarea, broken in 

 upon by the Mahomedan and Christian religions, 

 the inhabitants have adopted the use of animal food, 

 but even among them a party of the older faith 

 exists who continue the original mode of living of 

 their fathers, and who are contemptuously styled, 

 for that reason, "grain eaters." 



The Gongas that I have seen are of short stature, 

 not exceeding five feet four inches, are delicately 

 made, and of a pale yellow complexion. The 

 aperture of the eyelid in some were quite straight, 

 but in others it was obliquely divided. Their hair 

 was straight and strong. A triangular formed face, 

 the forehead being low and long, and the chins very 

 pointed. I could not convince myself, as I looked 

 at their w T hole appearance, but that they were of 

 the same race as the Hottentots of the Cape, 

 differing only in so much as that the latter are 

 in a very degraded state. Many remarkable 

 customs practised by both nations could not have 

 been merely coincidental ; and one, that of volun- 

 tary semi-emasculation, is too extraordinary not 

 to be referred to the same origin of imposition. 



