206 
Life at Banza Nokki. 
jowl wide, deep, and strong, and the cerebellum is 
highly developed as in the Slav. The eye is 
well opened, with thick and curly lashes, but the 
tunica conjunctiva is rarely of a pure white ; the 
large teeth are of good shape and colour. Ex¬ 
tensive tattoos appear on breasts, backs, and 
shoulders ; the wearers are generally slaves, also 
known by scantier clothing, by darker skins, and 
by a wilder expression of countenance. During 
their “ country nursing,” the children run about 
wholly nude, except the coating of red wood 
applied by the mothers, or the dust gathered from 
the ground. I could not hear of the weaning 
custom mentioned by Merolla, the father lifting 
the child by the arm, and holding him for a time 
hanging in the air, “ falsely believing that by 
those means he will become more strong and 
robust.” Whilst the men affect caps, the women 
go bare-headed, either shaving the whole scalp, 
or leaving a calotte of curly hair on the poll; it 
resembles the Shushah of Western Arabia and 
East Africa, but it is carried to the fore like a 
toucan’s crest. Some, by way of coquetterie, 
trace upon the scalp a complicated network, 
showing the finest and narrowest lines of black 
wool and pale skin : so the old traveller tells us 
“ the heads of those who aspire to glory in apparel 
resemble a parterre, you see alleys and figures 
traced on them with a great deal of ingenuity.” 
