The Tobacco Of The Ellyria Tribe Is Shaped Into Cheeses,
And Frequently Adulterated With Cowdung.
I had never smoked until my
arrival in Obbo, but having suffered much from fever, and the country
being excessively damp, I commenced with Obbo pipes and tobacco.
Every tribe has a distinct pattern of pipe; those of the Bari have wide
trumpet-shaped mouths; the Latooka are long and narrow; and the Obbo
smaller and the neatest. All their pottery is badly burned, and
excessively fragile if wet. The water jars are well formed, although the
potter's wheel is quite unknown, and the circular form is obtained
entirely by the hand. Throughout the tribes of the White Nile, the
articles of pottery are limited to the tobacco-pipe and the water-jar:
all other utensils are formed either of wood, or of gourd shells.
By observation, 1 determined the latitude of my camp at Obbo to be 4
degrees 02' N., 32 degrees 31' long. E., and the general elevation of
the country 3,674 feet above the sea, the temperature about 76 degrees
F. The altitude of Latooka was 2,236 feet above the sea level: thus we
were, at Obbo, upon an elevated plateau, 1,438 feet above the general
level of the country on the east of the mountain range. The climate
would be healthy were the country sufficiently populated to war
successfully against nature; but the rainfall continuing during ten
months of the year, from February to the end of November, and the soil
being extremely fertile, the increase of vegetation is too rapid, and
the scanty population are hemmed in and overpowered by superabundant
herbage. This mass of foliage, and grasses of ten feet in height
interwoven with creeping plants and wild grape-vines, is perfectly
impenetrable to man, and forms a vast jungle, inhabited by elephants,
rhinoceros, and buffaloes, whose ponderous strength alone can overcome
it. There are few antelopes, as those animals dislike the grass jungles,
in which they have no protection against the lion or the leopard, as
such beasts of prey can approach them unseen. In the month of January
the grass is sufficiently dry to burn, but even at that period there is
a quantity of fresh green grass growing between the withered stems; thus
the firing of the prairies does not absolutely clear the country, but
merely consumes the dry matter, and leaves a ruin of charred herbage,
rendered so tough by the burning, that it is quite impossible to ride
without cutting the skin from the horse's shins and shoulders.
Altogether, it is a most uninteresting country, as there is no
possibility of traversing it except by the narrow footpaths made by the
natives.
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. It was impossible to
conjecture their origin, as they had neither traditions nor ideas of
their past history.
The language is that of the Madi. There are three distinct
languages - the Bari, the Latooka, and the Madi, the latter country
extending south of Obbo.
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