- XII 
THE KAVIRONDOS 
41 
of its course are Kavirondos. As the train passes near 
^ their villages and “ shambas,” as the cultivated patches 
■ are called, the men, women, and children will run out 
j to watch the train go by and race each other to reach 
i the line. Some of them 
j assume the curious posture of 
standing on one leg with the 
sole of the foot placed on the 
thigh of the other limb. 
Kavirondo men, women, 
and children go about stark 
naked. Married women wear 
a thin narrow girdle around 
the waist with a tassel hang¬ 
ing behind. Matrons have a 
short leather apron orna¬ 
mented with beads suspended 
from the girdle in front. The 
tassel, made of fibre usually 
obtained from a species of 
aloe, is about twelve inches 
long, dyed black, and very 
pliant. It is the especial mark 
of a married woman (Hobley). 
When a young girl goes on a 
visit to another village, she 
wears a tassel or tail on her 
journey, but must take it off 
on reaching her destination 
and not don it again until she Although the girls and women 
, -y-. 1 , -1 01 Kavirondo go about naked, 
leaves. Hy wearing the tail married women wear a thin 
she is taken for a married narrow girdle wind, supports 
. Ill a tassel behind. 
woman, and is not likely to 
be molested by anyone she may happen to meet on 
the way. 
If a woman who has borne a child runs out of her 
hut in a hurry, for example, if she has been beaten, and 
goes into another hut without her tail, the hut she 
