INHABITANTS AND CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY LIVE 50 
packets. Polygamy among them is of course universal, and boys and girls are 
allowed to cohabit before marriage. A female companion is often provided for 
a boy by his parents. 
The clothing of both sexes of the Mandingoes is much more abundant than 
that of the other Liberian tribes. The men wear very baggy trousers which are 
sometimes tied over the calves, and which are very loose in the seat and more or 
less Moorish in appearance. Outside the trousers a sleeved shirt, either white 
or of some fancy material, is worn, and over this finally an ample loose-sleeved 
garment sometimes called a kaftan which has a hole in the middle through which 
the head is passed and which hangs loosely from the neck to a point well below 
the knee. A favorite material for the kaftan is the thick stout cotton cloth 
woven in the native looms to be seen in most of the Mandingo towns. It is 
usually striped, dark blue and white. Many of the Mandingoes, however, 
who come from over the border of French Guinea have this kaftan made of 
velvet or even of cheap silk. On ceremonial and other special occasions, the 
Superior men among them wear sandals made of wood, or more rarely of leather, 
with thongs of dyed leather or woven grass which are passed over the instep and 
on the inner side of the great toe. One sometimes sees them when they are on the 
march, carrying their shoes in their hands. A few of the Mandingo chiefs wear 
high leather boots. The favorite head covering is a round, tight-fitting cap or 
fez. The men sometimes wear anklets and always one or more finger rings. 
Sometimes several amulets are worn and a necklace or two of beads. <A few 
carry either a small whip of leather as a symbol of authority, or more rarely a 
short straight sword in a leather scabbard. 
The Mandingo women are more decorous in their appearance and in their 
dances than the women of other Liberian tribes. They wear more clothing, but 
seldom covering for their feet. They are rarely seen nude to the waist, but usu- 
ally wear a shirt, a loose cloth pulled over the shoulders and a long, loose skirt 
consisting of a piece of cloth of great width wound several times around the body 
and girdled at the waist. Round the head a bright-colored cloth in the form of a 
turban is worn. The Mandingo women are delivered in their houses, and do not 
go out for seven days after childbirth. 
As a people they seem fond of music, and although they have no conception 
of true music and no scale, they like to make musical sounds on their most primi- 
tive instruments, one of which consists of a form of harp with half a dozen fiber 
strings which they pluck back and forth continuously, always sounding the same 
notes on the open strings. It has a calabash below the strings, which serves as 
a sounding board. Flutes are sometimes used, and rattles filled with seeds are 
shaken, particularly during dances. The Mandingoes also make a crude xylo- 
phone of slabs of resonant wood and, in addition to the rattles, small drums are 
used to accompany dancing. 
They are a proud people, who regard themselves as superior to the other 
tribes of Liberia. Many of them can read the Koran and sometimes attempt to 
teach Mohammedanism to the other tribes among whom they often make 
easy proselytes. Although they are usually courteous to white people and in- 
