50 DRESS. 



ling or combing out this intangled mass, which 

 reminded me of the hair of Samson, interwoven 

 with the web of the loom. The lady whose hair 

 was to be operated upon sat upon a stone in the 

 court, beneath one of our windows, and behind her, 

 on her knees, was a stout hale slave girl, who held 

 in both hands a long-handled wooden fork-like 

 comb, having four very strong prongs, which she 

 dragged through the woolly, greasy, and black hair 

 of her mistress with the force of a groom currying 

 a horse's tail. 



When not attired in their full dress, or are occu- 

 pied in household duties, the women wear nothing 

 else but the fotah, or waistcloth, which appears to 

 be a garment common both to male and female 

 Dankalli. The better kind of fotah passes twice 

 round the body, and the ends are secured by the 

 women by merely tucking them under a fold of the 

 upper edge; but the men fasten it up with the belt 

 of their never absent short knife. Sandals made 

 of several layers of cow-skin, prepared with the 

 hair on and sewed together by a thong of leather, 

 sometimes in a very neat and ornamental manner, 

 are worn by both sexes, and are secured to the foot 

 by a loop for the second toe, and slight strips of 

 leather crossing the ancle are attached to the heel, 

 and to two small lappels on the sides. 



The slave children, who live in the houses of their 

 owners merely for the purpose of recruiting after 

 their long and painful journey from Abyssinia, live 



