The Chief Of Obbo Came To Meet Us With Several Of His Head Men.
He was
an extraordinary-looking man, about fifty-eight or sixty years of age;
but, far from possessing the dignity usually belonging to a grey head,
he acted the buffoon for our amusement, and might have been a clown in a
pantomime.
The heavy storm having cleared, the nogaras beat, and our entertaining
friend determined upon a grand dance; pipes and flutes were soon heard
gathering from all quarters, horns brayed, and numbers of men and women
began to collect in crowds, while old Katchiba, the chief, in a state of
great excitement, gave orders for the entertainment.
About a hundred men formed a circle; each man held in his left hand a
small cup-shaped drum, formed of hollowed wood, one end only being
perforated, and this was covered with the skin of the elephant's ear,
tightly stretched. In the centre of the circle was the chief dancer, who
wore, suspended from his shoulders, an immense drum, also covered with
the elephant's ear. The dance commenced by all singing remarkably well a
wild but agreeable tune in chorus, the big drum directing the time, and
the whole of the little drums striking at certain periods with such
admirable precision, that the effect was that of a single instrument.
The dancing was most vigorous, and far superior to anything that I had
seen among either, Arabs or savages, the figures varying continually,
and ending with a "grand galop" in double circles, at a tremendous pace,
the inner ring revolving in a contrary direction to the outer; the
effect of this was excellent.
Although the men of Obbo wear a skin slung across their shoulders and
loins, the women are almost naked, and, instead of wearing the leather
apron and tail of the Latookas, they are contented with a slight fringe
of leather shreds, about four inches long by two broad, suspended from a
belt. The unmarried girls are entirely naked; or, if they are
sufficiently rich in finery, they wear three or four strings of small
white beads, about three inches in length, as a covering. The old ladies
are antiquated Eves, whose dress consists of a string round the waist,
in which is stuck a bunch of green leaves, the stalk uppermost. I have
seen a few of the young girls that were prudes indulge in such garments;
but they did not appear to be fashionable, and were adopted faute de
mieux. One great advantage was possessed by this costume, - it was always
clean and fresh, and the nearest bush (if not thorny) provided a clean
petticoat. When in the society of these very simple and in demeanour
ALWAYS MODEST Eves, I could not help reflecting upon the Mosaical
description of our first parents, "and they sewed fig-leaves together."
Some of the Obbo women were very pretty. The caste of feature was
entirely different to that of the Latookas, and a striking peculiarity
was displayed in the finely arched noses of many of the natives, which
strongly reminded one of the Somauli tribes.
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