ARMS AND ORNAMENTS OF THE CARAVAN. 



349 



the lightest load ; he is also a stout, smooth, and sleek- 

 headed man, because, as usual with his class, he eats much 

 and he works little. The rear is brought up by the 

 master or the masters of the caravan, who often re- 

 mains far behind for the convenience of walking and to 

 prevent desertion. 



All the caravan is habited in its worst attire, the 

 East African derides those who wear upon a journey 

 the cloth which should be reserved for display at 

 home. If rain fall they will doff the single goat- 

 skin hung round their sooty limbs, and, folding it up, 

 place it between the shoulder and the load. When 

 grain is served out for some days' march, each porter 

 bears his posho or rations fastened like a large " bus- 

 sel" to the small of his back. Upon this again, he 

 sometimes binds, with its legs projecting outwards, 

 the three-legged stool, which he deems necessar} r to 

 preserve him from the danger of sitting upon the 

 danip ground. As may be imagined, the barbarians 

 have more ornament than dress. Some wear the 

 ngala, a strip of zebra's mane bound round the head 

 with the bristly parti-coloured hair standing out like a 

 saint's u gloria :" others prefer a long bit of stiffened 

 ox-tail, rising like a unicorn's horn, at least a foot 

 above the forehead. Other ornaments are the skins of 

 monkeys and ocelots, rouleaus and fillets of white, blue, 

 or scarlet cloth, and huge bunches of ostrich, crane, 

 and jay's feathers, crowning the head like the tufts of 

 certain fowls. Their arms are decorated with massive 

 ivory bracelets, heavy bangles of brass or copper, and 

 thin circlets of the same metal, beads in strings and 

 bands, adorn their necks, and small iron bells, a 

 " knobby " decoration, whose incessant tinkling harmo- 

 nises, in African ears, with the regular chime-like " Ti« 



