Mr Maxwell’s Ohsematims 
other allowed to grow. This ordpr is reversed eaeh successive 
shaving, the long hair being cut, and the short, left. 
-The Chiefs consider their wives as indispensable, 
appendages of grandeur and dignity.. The great mass of the 
people regard them as a source of wealth and independence. 
They perform every servile office, cviltivate the ground, herd 
the sheep and goats, make baskets, spin, weave, &c., whilst the 
men doze away their time in smoking tobacco, or drinking palm- 
wine, except when engaged in war, in the chace, or in fishing, 
&:c. The niunber of wives niay thus be truly said to consti- 
tute the riches of the middle class. 
The dress of the women differs considerably from that of the 
men : They have neither the cloth-belt, cap, shawl, nor cat- 
skin, not even a fitish to guard them from danger ! They are, 
Imwever, allowed the unlimited use of beads and shells.; and 
with these they decorate their persons most profusely : a few 
strings of beads supply the place of the belt. There is scarcely 
an article of dress upon which they set a higher value than the 
hair of the elephant's tail. It is worn around the neck with 
large pieces of coral strung upon, it. 
Tedious as are the operations of the toilet in our own country,, 
they are of short duration compared to that process in Congo, 
where a whole day is often insufficient for the completion of a 
single head. Over the eyedashes, black lines are drawm, and tlie 
front teeth are filed into one or two sharp fangs. Many of the 
women ornament their bodies with a sort of tatooing, which, 
judging from the size of the scars, must be a very cruel opera- 
tion ; but the custom is not common : they do not stain the 
wounded pai'ts in the manner of the Otaheiteans, with a colour- 
ing substance. A married woman generally wears her hair 
after the fashion of her husbands. Young women arrived 
at a certain age paint their bodies with a paste made from 
the jx)wder of red-wood ; and, instead of shaving their heads, 
although the hah is still kept short, plait it in elegant curves 
close to the skirn 
Singing and dancing are two necessary accomplishments of a 
female. For these, however, and the servile offices of the con- 
jugal life, she is chiefly valued. The wife is the property of her 
husband, who, for certain misdemeanours^ can sell her ; but this 
