Although the ascent had
occupied about two hours, the descent on the west side was a mere
trifle, and was effected in about fifteen minutes - we were on an
elevated plateau that formed the watershed between the east and west.
After a march of about twelve miles from the top of the pass, we arrived
at the chief village of Obbo. The rain fell in torrents, and, soaked to
the skin, we crawled into a dirty hut. This village was forty miles S.W.
of Tarrangolle, my head-quarters in Latooka.
The natives of Obbo are entirely different to the Latookas, both in
language and appearance. They are not quite naked, except when going to
war, on which occasion they are painted in stripes of red and yellow;
but their usual covering is the skin of an antelope or goat, slung like
a mantle across the shoulders. Their faces are well formed, with
peculiarly fine-shaped noses. The headdress of the Obbo is remarkably
neat, the woolly hair being matted and worked with thread into a flat
form like a beaver's tail, and bound with a fine edge of raw hide to
keep it in shape.
