DRESS. 



433 



for copal, and they act as middlemen ; they 

 wander far into the interior, buying hides, 

 slaves, and ivory, and they have thus become 

 familiar with the Lake Regions, which are now 

 attracting our attention. The poorest classes 

 employ themselves in fishing, and many may 

 be seen by day plying about the harbour in 

 little 'Monoxyles/ which they manage with 

 admirable dexterity. Others have learned to 

 make the rude hardwares with which the 

 mainland is supplied : there are also rough 

 masons, boat-builders, and carpenters of peculiar 

 awkwardness. 



Respectable Wasawahili dress like Arabs in 

 1 Kofiyya,' here meaning red caps, and the long 

 Disdashah, or night-gown ; the loins are girt 

 with a ' Kamarband '-shawl, and sandals protect 

 the feet. Others are contented with the Ham- 

 mam-toilette, waist-cloth (Shukkah or Tanga) 

 and shoulder-sheets (Izar), always adorned with 

 the favourite fringe (Tambua or Taraza). This 

 is at once the simplest and one of the most 

 ancient of attires ; the plate from Montfaucon's 

 Cosmas Indicopleustes (1706, Topographia Chris- 

 tiana) reproduced by Vincent (Periplus, Appendix, 

 part I.) shows the kilt to have been the general 

 dress of the ancient Ethiopians, as the spear was 



vol. i. 28 



