A REPRESENTATIVE WAJIJI. 587 



With such an elaborate crown it is natural to expect marvel- 

 lous attendant charms. Most eccentric fancies will be surprised 

 by the designs described about the bodies, arms, and legs. 

 Tattooing is in perfection among the Wajiji, as among most of 

 the tribes in the lake region ; and though the operation must be 

 painful indeed, it is precisely what the people would part with 

 last of all. How frequently do we find human beings clinging 

 most fondly to the most unreasonable customs at the sacrifice of 

 true comfort ! There is not any conceivable tyranny so unre- 

 lenting and severe as that of fashion. " You will find on a 

 representative person of the Wajiji an unconscionable mystery 

 of wheels and lines. About each breast there is a wheel, and 

 one encircling the navel ; wavy lines are tattoed on the arms, 

 and the immovable bracelets about the wrist ; wavy lines ex- 

 tend across the chest, and longer lines, with perplexing meander- 

 ings, extend from shoulders to hips, crossing on the abdomen ; 

 while all over that rotundity there are most unmeaning blotches. 

 It is wonderful how crazy vanity may become; it is almost as 

 profligate of its ingenuity in Africa as in America. But the 

 Wajiji are not satisfied with the inseparable decorations of their 

 tattooing ; their vanity knows no restraint except poverty. How 

 natural that is ! we can hardly realize that so familiar a speech 

 applies so far from home, but it does: we cannot deny it. Some- 

 times " a top of the fashion " lady may be seen with thirty 01 

 forty necklaces of beads about her sable neck, and numerous 

 bracelets of beads, and belts of beads twined about the waist, 

 and depending in back and front from the neck ; besides the 

 beads, charms innumerable, of ivory, hippopotamus teeth, and 

 boar's tusks. And well these fine ladies understand the art of 

 arranging the dyed robes of sheepskin so as to conceal as 

 little as possible the mysteries of their toilets. These people 

 are skilful manufacturers of cotton cloth, and are better supplied 

 with that commodity, of which only a small quantity suffices in 

 completing the most satisfactory "make up" of man or woman; 

 for what is the use of making one's self so pretty if he covers 

 all the beauty with cloth ? 



The superstition of the Wajiji and the neighboring tribes is 

 perhaps more decided than in many of the tribes which have 

 become known to us. In one of their villages Mr. Stanley saw 



