34 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



and priding themselves upon the possession of umbrellas, 

 they may be seen rolling barrels, or otherwise working 

 upon the sands, under the luxurious shade. The women 

 wear a tobe, or long cloth, wrapped tightly round the body, 

 and extending from beneath the arms to the ankles; 

 it is a garb ungraceful as was the European " sacque " 

 of bygone days. It spoils the figure by depressing 

 instead of supporting the bosom, and it conceals none of 

 its deficiencies, especially the narrowness of the hips. 

 The Murungwana, or free- woman, is distinguished from 

 the slave-girl, when outside the house, by a cloth thrown 

 over the head. Like the women of the Bedouins and of 

 the Persian Iliyat, even the matrons of the Mrima go 

 abroad unmasked. Their favourite necklace is a string 

 of shark's teeth. They distend the lobes of the ears to 

 a prodigious size, and decorate them with a rolled-up 

 strip of variously-dyed cocoa-leaf, a disk of wood, a plate 

 of chakazi or raw gum-copal, or, those failing, with a betel- 

 nut or with a few straws. The left wing of the nose is 

 also pierced to admit a pin of silver, brass, lead, or even 

 a bit of manioc-root. The hair, like the body, is copiously 

 anointed with cocoa-nut or sesamum oil. Some shave 

 the head wholly or partially across the brow and behind 

 the ears ; others grow their locks to half or full-length, 

 which rarely exceeds a few inches. It is elaborately 

 dressed, either in double-rolls rising like bear's ears on 

 both sides of the head, or divided into a number of 

 frizzly curls which expose lines of scalp, and give to the 

 head the appearance of a melon. They have also a pro- 

 pensity for savage " accroche-coeurs," which stand out 

 from the cheek bones, stiffly twisted like young por- 

 kers' tails. In early youth, when the short, soft, and 

 crisp hair resembles Astrachan wool, when the muscles 

 of the face are smoothly rounded, and when the skin has 



