66 
The Minor Tribes 
thin, the bosom is high and well carried, or, as 
the admiring Arab says, “ nejda ; ” the limbs are 
statuesque, and the hands and feet are Norman 
rather than Saxon. Many Europeans greatly 
admire these minois mntins et chiffonis . 1 
Early in the present century the Mpongwe 
braided whiskers and side curls, tipping the ends 
with small beads, and they plaited the front locks to 
project like horns, after the fashion of the present 
Fa^ and other wild tribes. A custom noticed by 
Barbot, but apparently obsolete in the days of 
Bowdich, was to bore the upper lip, and to insert 
a small ivory pin, extending from nose to mouth. 
The painting and tattooing were fantastic and 
elaborate ; and there was a hideous habit of split¬ 
ting either lip, so as to “ thrust the tongue through 
on ceremonial occasions.” A curious reason is 
given for this practice. “ They are subject to a 
certain distemper very common there, which on a 
sudden seizes them, and casts them into fits of so 
long a continuance, that they would inevitably be 
suffocated, if by means of the split at their upper 
lip they did not pour into their mouths some of 
the juice of a certain medicinal herb, which has 
the virtue of easing and curing the diseased per¬ 
son in a very short time.” 
1 M. du Chaillu ends his chapter i. with an “ illustration of a 
Mpongwe woman,” copied without acknowledgment from Mr. 
Wilson’s “ Portrait of Yanawaz, a Gaboon Princess.” 
