THE TURKANA LANGUAGE 



235 



distemper, and according to tliem their lierds are steadily and 

 rapidly increasing. 



TURKANA TOBACCO POUCH. 



Dhurra is only cultivated at the mouth of the Kerio 

 and Trrawell, but the Turkana get a good deal of fish 

 from Lake Eudolf, and in certain districts they make meal of 

 the rind of the doum- palms, which are there very plentiful. 



The Turkana are by no 

 means dainty about diet ; they 

 eat everything, even their dogs, 

 of which they have a good 

 many. Both sexes are extremely 

 fond of tobacco, which they 

 chew and take as snuff. 



The people here live almost 

 entirely in the open air, and in 

 this respect are poorer than any 

 tribe we came across, a few 

 branches stuck in the ground in 

 circles being the only protection girdle made 



OF goats' 



they have irom the weather, teeth. 

 even in their villages. 



The Turkana greeting consists in the 

 triple repetition of the one word na, 

 which is answered by a triple fay a. The 

 language of the country belongs to the 

 Nilotic stock, and the manner of speaking- 

 is rough, harsh, and repellent. A short, eager, reiterated he 

 occurs at every turn, and appears to express alike joy, surprise, 

 anger, and scorn. Turkana songs are noisy and unmelodious, 

 and the dances are grotesque, consisting of wild ungainly 



APRON WORN BY TURKANA 

 GIRLS. 



