ETHNOLOGY OF THE WASAGAEA. 



237 



dress of the general is a short but decorous jupe of 

 greasy skin, and a similar covering for the bosom, open 

 behind, and extending in front from the neck to the 

 middle of the body : the child is carried in another 

 skin upon the back. The poorest classes of both sexes 

 are indifferently attired in the narrow kilt of bark- 

 fibre, usually made in the maritime countries from 

 the ukhindu or brab tree; in the interior from 

 the calabash. The children wear an apron of thin 

 twine, like the Nubian thong-garments. Where beads 

 abound, the shagele, a small square napkin of these 

 ornaments strung upon thread, is fastened round 

 the waist by a string or a line of beads. There are 

 many fanciful modifications of it : some children wear 

 a screen of tin plates, each the size of a man's finger : 

 most of the very juniors, however, are simply attired in 

 a cord, with or without beads, round the waist. 



The ornaments of the Wasagara are the normal beads 

 and wire, and their weight is the test of wealth and re- 

 spectability. A fillet of blue and white beads is bound 

 round the head, and beads, — more beads, — appear 

 upon the neck, the arms, and the ankles. The kitindi, 

 or coil of thick brass wire, extends from the elbow to 

 the wrist ; others wear little chains or thick bangles of 

 copper, brass, or zinc, and those who can afford it twist 

 a few circles of brass wire under the knee. The arms of 

 the men are bows and arrows, the latter unpoisoned, but 

 armed with cruelly-barbed heads, and spines like fish- 

 bones, cut out in the long iron shaft which projects 

 from the wood. Their spears and assegais are made 

 from the old hoes wdiich are brought down by the 

 AVanyamwezi caravans; the ferule is thin, and it is 

 attached to the shaft by a cylinder of leather from a 

 cow's tail, drawn over the iron, and allowed to shrink 



