308 TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XLVIT. 
principal employments of the people. Indeed their 
shirts ("labii") are of very excellent manufacture; 
but their indigo ("m6gone") is not very good, nor 
are they expert in dyeing.* 
In addition to their cotton, which ought to be 
cultivated to an unbounded extent in these low and 
richly irrigated regions, the beautiful lattice-work of 
cane before mentioned, the common sort being called 
" parpar " or " farfar," while a better kind is called 
" moman," constitutes one of their most famous manu- 
factures ; their wooden bowls (" dalgwam") likewise, 
and the round straw covers ("kille"), are remark- 
able ; for the bowls are of very good workmanship, 
much better than they are seen in Kiikawa, although 
they do not attain to that excellency which is ob- 
served in the manufactures of Dar Fur. 
Altogether the inhabitants of this country seem to 
be a clever race, and are* in general handsomer than 
the Bornu people, the women in particular. It is 
remarkable that they use almost the same sort of 
tattooing as the Kaniiri, consisting of sundry curved 
lines along the cheek, generally six, running from the 
outer angle of the eye down to the mouth ; it is also 
curious that they have the same word for it f as the 
Kaniiri, although their languages are so entirely 
different in other respects. 
* The reader will see that my judgment in this respect is very 
different from that which Denham passed on them {Travels 
and Discoveries, i., p. 237.) ; but Denham never visited Kano, and 
had no standard forjudging what was good and what was not. 
f The Kanuri call it " beli," the ldgode Logone " bel." 
