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THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



end the day. Every evening there is a smoking party, 

 which particularly attracts my attention. All the femi- 

 nine part of the population, from wrinkled grandmother 

 to the maiden scarcely in her teens, assemble together, 

 and sitting in a circle upon dwarf stools and logs of 

 wood, apply themselves to their long black-bowl'd pipes. 



" Ssepe illse long- cut vel short-cut flare tobacco 

 Sunt solita? pipos." 



They smoke with an intense enjoyment, slowly and 

 deeply inhaling the glorious weed, and exhaling clouds 

 from their nostrils; at times they stop to cool the 

 mouth with slices of raw manioc, or cobs of green 

 maize roasted in the ashes ; and often some earnest mat- 

 ter of local importance causes the pipes to be removed 

 for a few minutes, and a clamour of tongues breaks the 

 usual silence. The pipe also requires remark : the bowl 

 is of imperfect material — the clay being half-baked — 

 but the shape is perfect. The African tapering cone is 

 far superior to the European bowl : the former gives as 

 much smoke as possible whilst the tobacco is fresh and 

 untainted, and as little when it becomes hot and un- 

 pleasant ; the latter acts on the contrary principle. 

 Amongst the fair of Yombo, there were no less than 

 three beauties — women who would be deemed beautiful 

 in any part of the world. Their faces were purely 

 Grecian ; they had laughing eyes, their figures were 

 models for an artist, with — 



" Turgide, brune e ritondette mamme," 



like the " bending statue that delights the world " 

 cast in bronze. The dress — a short kilt of calabash 

 fibre, — rather set off than concealed their charms, and 



