The men are, as usual in
these countries, armed with well-made ebony clubs, two lances, a bow
(always strung), and a bundle of arrows; their hands are completely full
of weapons; and they carry a neatly-made miniature stool slung upon
their backs, in addition to an immense pipe.
Thus a man carries all that
be most values about his person. The females in this tribe are not
absolutely naked; like those of the Kytch, they wear small lappets of
tanned leather as broad as the hand; at the back of the belt, which
supports this apron, is a tail which reaches to the lower portions of
the thighs; this tail is formed of finely-cut strips of leather, and
the costume has doubtless been the foundation for the report I had
received from the Arabs, "that a tribe in Central Africa had tails like
horses." The women carry their children very conveniently in a skin
slung from their shoulders across the back, and secured by a thong round
the waist; in this the young savage sits delightfully. The huts
throughout all tribes are circular, with entrances so low that the
natives creep both in and out upon their hands and knees. The men wear
tufts of cock's feathers on the crown of the head; and their favorite
attitude, when standing, is on one leg while leaning on a spear, the
foot of the raised leg resting on the inside of the other knee. Their
arrows are about three feet long, without feathers, and pointed with
hard wood instead of iron, the metal being scarce among the Shir tribe.
The most valuable article of barter for this tribe is the iron hoe
generally used among the White Nile negroes. In form it is precisely
similar to the "ace of spades." The finery most prized by the women are
polished iron anklets, which they wear in such numbers that they reach
nearly half-way up the calf of the leg; the tinkling of these rings is
considered to be very enticing, but the sound reminds one of the
clanking of convicts' fetters.
All the tribes of the White Nile have their harvest of the lotus seed.
There are two species of water-lily - the large white flower, and a
small variety. The seed-pod of the white lotus is like an unblown
artichoke, containing a number of light red grains equal in size to
mustard-seed, but shaped like those of the poppy, and similar to them in
flavour, being sweet and nutty. The ripe pods are collected and strung
upon sharp-pointed reeds about four feet in length. When thus threaded
they are formed into large bundles, and carried from the river to the
villages, where they are dried in the sun, and stored for use. The seed
is ground into flour, and made into a kind of porridge. The women of the
Shir tribe are very clever at manufacturing baskets and mats from the
leaf of the dome palm.
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