339 
of Edinhurglb, Session 1883-84. 
tin. % however, a young woman dances across, and invites a young 
man to advance into the centre and perform a pas seul; and when 
he has finished, he in his turn asks a young woman to exhibit her 
skill, but they do not dance together. The men paint themselves 
with various colours for these occasions, and the women are adorned 
with brass necklaces, rings on their waists, arms, and ankles, and 
flowers round their necks. 
Fights . — These dances are usually ended with a fight ; in fact, it 
seems that the dance would not be supposed to have gone off 
properly without some such finale. The fight is begun in this way : 
A man shoots an arrow high in the air, so that it falls among the 
dancers, who immediately cease dancing, and range themselves into 
different sides, according as is their division of tribe. Then the 
game begins by a shower of arrows. The women remain with the 
men, carefully eluding the arrows ; should a man be hit, some of his 
female relations rush up to him, carry him to a place of safety, and 
wash his wound. They do not try and stop the bleeding, for fear of 
causing inflammation. Should inflammation occur, light incisions 
are made to allow the blood to run freely. A special knife is used 
for this purpose. Should a woman be killed, there is great excite- 
ment, and the fighting becomes desperate. War goes on between 
the tribal divisions, until the offending one is considered to be suffi- 
ciently punished, and pays a large indemnity in cows. If no fight- 
ing is desired at the dances, all the bows and arrows are hidden. 
Boys are early taught by their fathers the art of war, especially 
how to elude an enemy’s arrow. This requires great dexterity and 
much practice, and young children are trained from very early days, 
shooting at their father with blunt arrows. The young men also 
instruct large classes of boys, and mothers train their daughters in 
the art of eluding arrows. 
As in Europe, women at times take a dislike to one another, and 
very occasionally even come to blows. If they do, a very fierce and 
bloody encounter takes place, for the women, before fighting, put on 
iron bracelets with spikes both straight and curved projecting from 
them ; with these they tear one another very badly. The Arab 
slave dealers do not appreciate these bracelets, and when in their 
raids they see a woman with them on, she is generally shot down at 
once, for at close quarters the Arabs are no match for them. 
