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THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



The Wak'hutu are physically and, apparently, men- 

 tally a race inferior to the Wazaramo ; they are very 

 dark, and bear other marks of a degradation effected 

 by pernicious climatory conditions. They have no 

 peculiar tattoo, although individuals raise complicated 

 patterns in small cicatrices upon their breasts. The popu- 

 lar head-dress is the clay-coating of the Wazaramo, of 

 somewhat modified dimensions ; and some of them, 

 who are possibly derived from the Wahiao and other 

 southern clans, have a practice — exceptional in these 

 latitudes — of chipping their incisors to sharp points, 

 which imitate well enough the armature of the reptilia. 

 Their eyes are bleared and red with perpetual intoxi- 

 cation, and they seem to have no amusements but 

 dancing and singing through half the night. None 

 but the wealthier can afford to wear cloth ; the substi- 

 tute is a kilt of the calabash fibre, attached by a cord 

 of the same material to the waist. In women it often 

 narrows to a span, and would be inadequate to the 

 purposes of decency were it not assisted by an under- 

 clothing of softened goatskin ; this and a square of 

 leather upon the bosom, which, however, is often 

 omitted, compose the dress of the multitude. The orna- 

 ments are like those of the Wazaramo, but by no means 

 so numerous. The Wak'hutu live poorly, and, having 

 no ghee, are contented with the oil of the sesamum and 

 the castor-bean with their holcus porridge. The rivers 

 supply them with the usual mud-fish ; at times they 

 kill game. Their sheep, goats, and poultry they reserve 

 for barter on the coast; and, though bees swarm through- 

 out the land, and even enter the villages, they will not 

 take the trouble to make hives. 



As on the Mrima, the proportion of chiefs to subjects 



