A SPECIMEN DAY WITH THE FAN CANNIBALS. 55 
brass ; they are the “ Hibas ” which the Bedawin wear 
under their lower articulations as preservatives against 
cramp. Lastly, a Fetish horn hangs from the breast, 
and heavy copper rings encumber the wrists and ankles. 
Though unskilful in managing canoes — an art to be 
learned, like riding and dancing, only in childhood — 
many villagers affect to walk about with a paddle, like 
the semi-aquatic Kru-men. Up country it is said they 
make rafts which are towed across the stream by ropes, 
when the swiftness of the current demands a ferry. The 
women are still afraid of the canoe. 
All adult males carry arms, and would be held 
womanish if they were seen unweaponed. These are 
generally battle-axes, spears cruelly and fantastically 
jagged, hooked and barbed, and curious leaf-shaped 
knives of archaic aspect ; some of the latter have blades 
broader than they are long, a shape also preserved by 
the Mpongwe. The sheaths of fibre or leather are elabo- 
rately decorated, and it is chic for the scabbard to fit so 
tight that the weapon cannot be drawn for five minutes ; 
I have seen the same amongst the Somal. There are 
some trade-muskets, but the “ hot-mouthed weapon ” 
has not become the national weapon of the Fa n. Bows 
and arrows are unknown ; the Nay in or cross-bow pecu- 
liar to this people, and probably a native invention, not 
borrowed, as might be supposed, from Europe, is carried 
only when hunting or fighting : a specimen was exhibited 
in London with the gorillas. The people are said some- 
times to bend it with the foot or feet like the Tupf- 
Guarams, the Jivaros, and other South Americans. 
Suffice it to remark of this weapon, with which, by the 
bye, I never saw a decent shot made, that the detente is 
simple and ingenious, and that the “ Ebe ” or dwarf bolt 
is always poisoned with the boiled root of a wild shrub. 
It is believed that a graze is fatal, and that the death is 
exceedingly painful : I doubt both assertions. Most 
men also carry a pliable basket full of bamboo caltrops, 
thin splints, pointed and poisoned. Placed upon the 
path of a bare-footed enemy, this rude contrivance, com- 
bined with the scratching of the thorns, and the gashing 
