CYNOPHAGISM. 



201 



which tufts of leaves had been stuck to prevent 

 splashing, were bound for a Golio (market) held 

 in an open place. Here their own land begins : 

 none started at or fled from the white face. 



The men chip their teeth to points, and, 

 like the Wasumbara, punch out in childhood 

 one incisor from the lower jaw ; a piece of 

 dried rush or sugar-cane distends the ear-lobe 

 to an unsightly size. All carried bows and 

 arrows. Some shouldered such hoes and hat- 

 chets as English children use upon the sands : 

 here bounteous earth, fertilized by the rains of 

 heaven, requires merely the scratching of a man's 

 staff. Others led stunted curs, much like the 

 pariah dogs of Hindostan, adorned with leather 

 collars : I afterwards saw similar pets at the 

 Yellalah of the Congo river. The animals ar:^ 

 prime favourites with the savages, as were the 

 Spanish puppies in the days of Charles II.; they 

 hold a dog-stew to be a dish fit for a king. In 

 West Africa also the meat finds many admirers, 

 and some missionaries in the Niger regions have 

 described it as somewhat glutinous, but 'very 

 sweet.' Why should we not have cynophages as 

 well as hippophages ? 



The salutations of these savages provoked the 

 comical wrath of Sidi Bombay ; and indeed they 



