chap, i ] THE KYTCH TRIBE. 7] 
him, holding their end of the line, and playing him 
until exhausted. 
The chief of this tribe (the Kytch) wore a leopard- 
skin across his shoulders, and a skull-cap of white 
beads, with a crest of white ostrich-feathers ; but the 
mantle was merely slung over his shoulders, and all 
other parts of his person were naked. His daughter 
was the best-looking girl that I have seen among 
the blacks; she was about sixteen. Her clothing 
consisted of a little piece of dressed hide about 
a foot wide slung across her shoulders, all other 
parts being exposed. All the girls of this country 
wear merely a circlet of little iron jingling orna¬ 
ments round their waists. They came in numbers, 
bringing small bundles of wood to exchange for a 
few handfuls of corn. Most of the men are tall, 
but wretchedly thin; the children are mere skeletons, 
and the entire tribe appears thoroughly starved. The 
language is that of the Dinka. The chief carried a 
curious tobacco-box, an iron spike about two feet long, 
with a hollow socket, bound with iguana-skin ; this 
served for either tobacco-box, club, or dagger. Through¬ 
out the whole of this marshy country it is curious 
to observe the number of white ant-hills standing 
above the water in the marshes : these Babel towers 
save their inmates from the deluge ; working during 
