We Gave Them Both A Number Of Necklaces Of Red And Blue
Beads, And I Secured Bokke's Portrait In My Sketch- Book, Obtaining A
Very Correct Likeness.
She told us that Mahommed Her's men were very bad
people; that they had burned and plundered one of
Her villages; and that
one of the Latookas who had been wounded in the fight by a bullet had
just died, and they were to dance for him to-morrow; if we would like to
we could attend. She asked many questions; among others, how many wives
I had, and was astonished to hear that I was contented with one. This
seemed to amuse her immensely, and she laughed heartily with her
daughter at the idea. She said that my wife would be much improved if
she would extract her four front teeth from the lower jaw and wear the
red ointment on her hair, according to the fashion of the country; she
also proposed that she should pierce her under lip, and wear the long
pointed polished crystal, about the size of a drawing-pencil, that is
the "thing" in the Latooka country. No woman among the tribe who has any
pretensions to being a "swell" would be without this highly-prized
ornament; and one of my thermometers having come to an end, I broke the
tube into three pieces, and they were considered as presents of the
highest value, to be worn through the perforated under lip. Lest the
piece should slip through the hole in the lip, a kind of rivet is formed
by twine bound round the inner extremity, and this, protruding into the
space left by the extraction of the four front teeth of the lower jaw,
entices the tongue to act upon the extremity, which gives it a wriggling
motion indescribably ludicrous during conversation.
It is difficult to explain real beauty. A defect in one country is a
desideratum in another. Scars upon the face are, in Europe, a blemish;
but here and in the Arab countries no beauty can be perfect until the
cheeks or temples have been gashed. The Arabs make three gashes upon
each cheek, and rub the wounds with salt and a kind of porridge (asida)
to produce proud-flesh; thus every female slave captured by the slave-
hunters is marked to prove her identity and to improve her charms. Each
tribe has its peculiar fashion as to the position and form of the
cicatrix.
The Latookas gash the temples and cheeks of their women, but do not
raise the scar above the surface, as is the custom of the Arabs.
Polygamy is, of course, the general custom, the number of a man's wives
depending entirely upon his wealth, precisely as would the number of his
horses in England. There is no such thing as LOVE in these countries;
the feeling is not understood, nor does it exist in the shape in which
we understand it. Everything is practical, without a particle of
romance. Women are so far appreciated as they are valuable animals. They
grind the corn, fetch the water, gather firewood, cement the floors,
cook the food, and propagate the race; but they are mere servants, and
as such are valuable. The price of a good-looking, strong young wife,
who could carry a heavy jar of water, would be ten cows; thus a man rich
in cattle would be rich in domestic bliss, as he could command a
multiplicity of wives. However delightful may be a family of daughters
in England, they nevertheless are costly treasures; but in Latooka and
throughout savage lands they are exceedingly profitable. The simple rule
of proportion will suggest that if one daughter is worth ten cows, ten
daughters must be worth a hundred; therefore a large family is a source
of wealth: the girls bring the cows, and the boys milk them. All being
perfectly naked (I mean the girls and the boys), there is no expense,
and the children act as herdsmen to the flocks as in the patriarchal
times. A multiplicity of wives thus increases wealth by the increase of
family. I am afraid this practical state of affairs will be a strong
barrier to missionary enterprise.
A savage holds to his cows and his women, but especially to his COWS. In
a razzia fight he will seldom stand for the sake of his wives, but when
he does fight it is to save his cattle.
One day, soon after Bokke's visit, I heard that there had been some
disaster, and that the whole of Mahommed Her's party had been massacred.
On the following morning I sent ten of my men with a party of Ibrahim's
to Latome to make inquiries. They returned on the following afternoon,
bringing with them two wounded men. It appeared the Mahommed Her had
ordered his party of 110 armed men, in addition to 300 natives, to make
a razzia upon a certain village among the mountains for slaves and
cattle. They had succeeded in burning a village and in capturing a great
number of slaves. Having descended the pass, a native gave them the
route that would lead to the capture of a large herd of cattle that they
had not yet discovered. They once more ascended the mountain by a
different path, and arriving at the kraal they commenced driving off the
vast herd of cattle. The Latookas, who had not fought while their wives
and children were being carried into slavery, now fronted bravely
against the muskets to defend their herds, and charging the Turks they
drove them down the pass.
It was in vain that they fought; every bullet aimed at a Latooka struck
a rock, behind which the enemy was hidden. Rocks, stones, and lances
were hurled at them from all sides and from above. They were forced to
retreat. The retreat ended in a panic and precipitate flight. Hemmed in
on all sides, amid a shower of lances and stones thrown from the
mountain above, the Turks fled pell-mell down the rocky and precipitous
ravines.
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