WOMEN'S DRESS. 



99 



Xighila and liis followers carrying stools of tree- 

 stumps, ornamented with, glass-ware. The other 

 approximations of custom, character, and climate 

 between the North Equatorial basin of the White 

 River (Nile) and the coast of Eastern Intertro- 

 pical Africa are exceedingly interesting. 



The costume of the Domus Aurea and E-osa 

 Mystica is as simple : a skin or a cloth round the 

 loins, another veiling the bosom, and in some 

 cases a Marinda or broad lappet of woven beads, 

 like the Coeoo of Guiana, falling in front, with a 

 second of wider dimensions behind. A flat ruff 

 of thick brass wire encircles the throat, making 

 the head appear as in a barber's dish ; white and 

 red beads, or the scarlet beans of the Abrus tree, 

 form the earrings and necklace, bracelets and 

 anklets, whilst a polished coil of brass wire, wound 

 round a few inches of the leg below the knee, 

 sets off the magnificent proportions of the limb. 

 Young girls wear long hair, and the bold bairn 

 takes his bow and arrows before thinking of a 

 waist-cloth. 



The "Wanyika are a slave importing tribe : 

 they prefer the darker women of the South to, 

 and they treat them better than, their own wives. 

 Children are sold, as in India, only if famine 

 compels, and all have the usual hatred of slave 



