412 THE BASHINJK. 



noses flat and much expanded laterally, though this is 

 partly owing to the alae spreading over the cheeks, by the 

 custom of inserting bits of stick or reeds in the septum ; 

 their teeth are deformed by being filed to points ; their 

 lips are large. They make a nearer approach to a general 

 negro appearance than any tribes I met ; but I did not 

 notice this on my way down. They cultivate pretty 

 largely, and rely upon their agricultural products for their 

 supplies of salt, flesh, tobacco, &c, from Bangalas. Their 

 clothing consists of pieces of skin, hung loosely from the 

 girdle in front and behind. They plait their hair fan- 

 tastically. We saw some women coming with their hair 

 woven into the form of a European hat, and it was only 

 by a closer inspection that its nature was detected. Others 

 had it arranged in tufts, with a threefold cord along the 

 ridge of each tuft ; while others, again, follow the ancient 

 Egyptian fashion, having the whole mass of wool plaited 

 into cords, all hanging down as far as the shoulders. This 

 mode, with the somewhat Egyptian cast of countenance 

 in other parts of I^onda, reminded me strongly of the 

 paintings of that nation in the British Museum. 



We had now rain every day, and the sky seldom pre- 

 sented that cloudless aspect and clear blue, so common 

 in the dry lands of the south. The heavens are often 

 overcast by large white motionless masses, which stand 

 for hours in the same position, and the intervening spaces 

 are filled with a milk-and-water-looking haze. Notwith- 

 standing these unfavourable circumstances, I obtained 

 good observations for the longitude of this important 

 point on both sides of the Quango, and found the river 

 running in 9 50' S. lat., 18 33' E. long. 



On proceeding to our former station near Sansawe's 

 village, he ran to meet us with wonderful urbanity, asking 

 if we had seen Moene Put, king of the white men (or Portu- 

 guese) ; and added, on parting, that he would come to 

 receive his dues in the evening. I replied that, as he had 

 treated us so scurvily, even forbidding his people to sell 

 us any food, if he did not bring a fowl and some eggs, 

 as part of his duty as a chief, he should receive no present 

 from me. When he came, it was in the usual Londa way 

 of showing the exalted position he occupies, mounted on 

 the shoulders of his spokesman, as schoolboys sometimes 

 do in England, and as was represented to have been the 

 case in the southern islands when Captain Cook visited 



