384 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXIII. 
disfigured by a thin pointed metal plate about an 
inch long, of the figure represented here, 
which was stuck through her under lip. 
This kind of barbarous ornament is called in 
the language of these people " segheum," and 
is very differently shaped, and generally 
much smaller than that worn by this woman ; 
indeed it is often a mere thin tag. It is possible 
that its size varies according to the character of the 
females by whom it is worn. However small it may 
be, it can hardly be fastened in the lip without being 
very inconvenient, and even painful, at least at first : 
at any rate it is less monstrous than the large bone 
which is worn by the Musgu women in the same 
way. These simple people were greatly amused when 
they saw me take so much interest in them; but 
while they were pleased with my approval, and 
behaved very decently, they grew frightened when I 
set about sketching them. This is the misfortune of 
the traveller in these regions, where everything is 
new, and where certainly one of the most interesting 
points attaches to the character of the natives, — that 
he will very rarely succeed in persuading one of them 
to stand while he makes an accurate drawing of him. 
The men are generally tall, and while they are young, 
rather slender ; some of the women also attain a great 
height, and in that state, with their hanging breasts, 
form frightful objects in their total nakedness, espe- 
cially if they be of red colour. 
In another courtyard, I saw two unmarried young 
