THE RIGAH. 
395 
selves like the finest statues of antiquity. The rich 
wear a veiy full dress, called in the Haussa language, 
“ Rigah,” or shirt ; also “ Tobo, Toba, Toga or 
Itoga.” It is made like a surplice, with very large 
open sleeves, the arm-hole, in fact, reaches from the 
shoulder to within two inches of the bottom of the 
dress. The common tohes are white, blue, or chequered ; 
the latter is called “ Rigah’n Zabbo,” from its being 
speckled like a guinea-fowl. The best kind have some- 
times a green or red silk stripe. On particular 
occasions, the richest people and kings wear silk tohes, 
which are brought by the Arabs across the Desert. 
Cotton tohes vary in price from ten to sixty, and 
even a hundred thousand cowries, those with a red 
silk stripe are the dearest. All are worked or embroi- 
dered in front with silk or cotton. When a blue tobe 
is worn, a white one is generally put on beneath it, as 
the indigo, not being well fixed, comes off and soils 
the skin. They are never washed, but are worn until 
they become both of a colour, and drop off in rags. 
Turkish trowsers, a scarlet cap, and sandals, complete 
the dress of a gentleman of the first rank and fashion. 
The Filatahs, when riding, wear boots. Women of 
aU classes dress nearly abke, that is with a country cloth 
or zani round the waist, and another over or under 
the shoulders, according to the state of the weather or 
the lady’s taste. A piece of cotton is also neatly folded 
round the head. They plait their woolly hair in a 
variety of curious forms, close to the head, and plaster 
