5G 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



profusion of white disks, bead necklaces, a little square 

 bib of beads called a t'hando, partially concealing the 

 upper bosom, with short coils of thick brass wire wound 

 so tightly round the wrists, the arms above the elbows, 

 and the fat ankles, that they seemed to have grown into 

 the flesh, and, — hideous perversion of taste ! — with 

 ample bosoms tightly corded down, advanced and retired 

 in a convulsion of wriggle and contortion, whose fit 

 expression was a long discordant howl, which seemed to 



" Embowel with outrageous noise the air." 



I threw them a few strings of green beads, which for 

 a moment interrupted the dance. One of these falling 

 to the ground, I was stooping to pick it up when Said 

 whispered hurriedly in my ear, " Bend not ; they will 

 say ' he will not bend even to take up beads ! ' " 



In the evening I walked down to the bed of the 

 Kingani river, which bisects a plain all green with 

 cultivation, — rice and holcus, sweet potato and tobacco, 

 — and pleasantly studded with huts and hamlets. The 

 width of the stream, which here runs over a broad 

 bed of sand, is about fifty yards ; it is nowhere ford- 

 able, as the ferry-boat belonging to each village proves, 

 and thus far it is navigable, though rendered dangerous 

 by the crocodiles and the hippopotami that house in 

 its waters. The colour is tawny verging upon red, 

 and the taste is soft and sweet, as if fed by rain. The 

 Kingani, like all streams in this part of the continent, 

 is full of fish, especially a dark-green and scaleless 

 variety (a Silurus ?) called Kambari, and other local 

 names. This great " miller's thumb " has fleshy cirri, 

 appears to be omnivorous, and tastes like animal mud. 

 The night was rendered uncomfortable to the Baloch 

 by the sound of distant drums, which suggested fighting 



