270 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LX. 
of the village and a great number of the natives were 
sitting on the high banks of the river, which form a 
sort of amphitheatre, in order to enjoy the spectacle. 
There was something very peculiar about the inhabi- 
tants of this place. The men were formed into in- 
teresting groups, with features full of expression, but 
approaching somewhat to effeminacy, their hair being 
plaited in long tresses, which hung down over their 
cheeks, and in some cases reached their shoulders. 
Their dress consisted of short blue shirts, and long 
wide trowsers of the same colour. Almost all of 
them had small pipes in their mouths, which they 
smoked incessantly. The women were of rather short 
stature, and of not very symmetrical forms, with 
naked legs and breasts. Their necks and ears were 
richly ornamented with strings of beads; but they 
also were destitute of the nose-ring, which I had sup- 
posed common to this tribe. 
The men were expert swimmers, and carried the 
small articles across the river in large calabashes; 
but we ourselves and the heavier luggage had to 
cross on the rafts of reeds, and in about two hours 
we succeeded in getting safely over the water with 
our whole troop. A little after twelve o'clock we left 
the opposite bank, being joined by two horsemen of the 
Syllebdwa, who at no great distance from this spot 
have a large settlement called Diituwel ; but we had 
great difficulty in making our way through the 
swampy plain, intersected by several small water- 
courses, which descended in deep ravines from a small 
