the 1 spoonbill: 



113 



proportion. In the elder women the ornament is 

 especially hideous. As a rule, the South Ameri- 

 can c Indians ' pierce for their labrets the lower 

 lip, evidently the more unclean fashion — no 

 wonder that kissing (should I say osculation ?) is 

 unknown. Yet even amongst the Somal, if you 

 attempt to salute a woman — supposing that you 

 have the right — she will draw back in horror from 

 the act of incipient cannibalism. Often the lip- 

 disk is absent, and then through the unsightly 

 gap a pearly tooth is seen to gleam, set off by the 

 outer darkness of £ Spoonbill's ' skin. This woman, 

 broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, is almost as 

 stalwart as her Mhias, whose tattoo (chale) is a 

 single line forked at both ends : 1 in others the 

 cuticle and cutis are branded, worked, and raised 

 in an intricate embroidery over all the muscular 

 trunk. An abnormal equality of strength and 

 stature between the sexes prevails amongst many 



1 Uhiao is the Iao of Mr Cooley, who calls the people 

 M'yau (Mhiao) and Miyao (Wahiao). They are the ' Monjou ' 

 of Salt, and the Mujao of the Portuguese. M. Macqueen (On 

 the Geography of Central Africa) says, ' The inhabitants on the 

 west side of the Lake are called Yoah, and are Mohammedans.' 

 They are still pagans. Capt. Guillain (1, 390) remarks, 1 Les 

 historiens Portuguais nous paraissent avoir donne au pays le 

 nom que les indigenes donnent a ses habitants. Moudjaou, 

 ou plutot Moniao et, par contraction, M'iao signifie un homme 

 tlu pays de Iao.' Uhiao would be the country ; Mhiao and 

 AVahiao (singular and plural), its people. 



VOL. I. 8 



