Chap. XIX. NATIVE STYLE OF ORNAMENT. 377 



being characteristic of the tribes, and varying with them. The 

 Matumboka, or Atimboka, raise up little knobs on the skin of 

 their faces, after a fashion that makes them look as if covered 

 all over with warts or pimples. The young girls are good- 

 looking before this ugly adornment hardens the features, 

 and gives them the appearance of age. Their gowns are in- 

 describable, owing to the extreme scantiness of the material 

 from which they are cut, and their beautiful teeth are notched 

 or clipped to points like those of cats. 



In character, the Lake tribes are very much like other 

 people ; there are decent men among them, while a good 

 many are no better than they should be. They are open- 

 handed enough : if one of us, as was often the case, went to 

 see a net drawn, a fish was always offered. Sailing one day 

 past a number of men, who had just dragged their nets 

 ashore, at one of the fine fisheries at Pamalombe, we were 

 hailed and asked to stop, and received a liberal donation of 

 beautiful fish. Arriving late one afternoon at a small village 

 on the lake, a number of the inhabitants manned two canoes, 

 took out their seine, dragged it, and made us a present of 

 the entire haul. The northern Chief, Marenga, a tall hand- 

 some man, with a fine aquiline nose, whom we found living 

 in his stockade in a forest about twenty miles north of the 

 mountain Kowirwe, behaved like a gentleman to us. His 

 land extended from Dambo to the north of Makuza hill. 

 He was S23ecially generous, and gave us bountiful presents 

 of food and beer. " Do they wear such things in your coun- 

 try ? " he asked, pointing to his iron bracelet, which was 

 studded with copper, and highly prized. The Doctor said 

 he had never seen such in his country, whereupon Marenga 

 instantly took it off, and presented it to him, and his wife 

 also did the same with hers. On our return south from the 

 mountains near the north end of the Lake, we reached 



