No Helmet Is Supposed To Be Complete Without A Row
Of Cowrie-Shells Stitched Around The Rim So As To Form A Solid Edge.
The Latookas have neither bows nor arrows, their weapons consisting of
the lance, a powerful iron-headed mace, a long-bladed knife or sword,
and an ugly iron bracelet, armed with knife-blades about four inches
long by half an inch broad:
The latter is used to strike with if
disarmed, and to tear with when wrestling with an enemy. Their shields
are either of buffaloes' hide or of giraffes', the latter being highly
prized as excessively tough although light, and thus combining the two
requisite qualities of a good shield; they are usually about four feet
six inches long by two feet wide, and are the largest I have seen.
Altogether, everything in Latooka looks like fighting. Although the men
devote so much attention to their head-dress, the women are extremely
simple. It is a curious fact, that while the men are remarkably
handsome, the women are exceedingly plain; - they are immense creatures,
few being under five feet seven in height, with prodigious limbs. Their
superior strength to that of other tribes may be seen in the size of
their water jars, which are nearly double as large as any I have seen
elsewhere, containing about ten gallons; in these they fetch water from
the stream about a mile distant from the town. They wear exceedingly
long tails, precisely like those of horses, but made of fine twine and
rubbed with red ochre and grease.
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