CHAP. I.] 
THE SHIR TRIBE. 
83 
that he most values about his person. The females 
in this tribe are not absolutely naked ; like those of the 
Kytch, they wear small lappets of tanned leather as 
broad as the hand ; at the back of the belt, which 
supports this apron, is a tail which reaches to the 
lower portions of the thighs ; this tail is formed of 
finely-cut strips of leather, and the costume has doubt¬ 
less been the foundation for the report I had received 
from the Arabs, “that a tribe in Central Africa had 
tails like horses” The women carry their children 
very conveniently in a skin slung from their shoulders 
across the back, and secured by a thong round the 
waist; in this the young savage sits delightfully. The 
huts throughout all tribes are circular, with entrances 
so low that the natives creep both in and out upon 
their hands and knees. The men wear tufts of cock’s 
feathers on the crown of the head; and their favourite 
attitude, when standing, is on one leg while leaning 
on a spear, the foot of the raised leg resting on the 
inside of the other knee. Their arrows are about 
three feet long, without feathers, and pointed with 
hard wood instead of iron, the metal being scarce 
among the Shir tribe. The most valuable article of 
barter for this tribe is the iron hoe generally used 
among the White Nile negroes. In form it is pre¬ 
cisely similar to the “ace of spades.” The finery most 
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