Very Black They Are, Blacker Than Many Of Their
Neighbours, Always Blacker Than The Fans, And Although Their Skin
Lacks
That velvety pile of the true negro, it is not too shiny, but
it is fine and usually unblemished, and
Their figures are charmingly
rounded, their hands and feet small, almost as small as a high-class
Calabar woman's, and their eyes large, lustrous, soft and brown, and
their teeth as white as the sea surf and undisfigured by filing.
The native dress for men and women alike is the cloth or paun. The
men wear it by rolling the upper line round the waist, and in
addition they frequently wear a singlet or a flannel shirt worn MORE
AFRICANO, flowing free. Rich men will mount a European coat and
hat, and men connected with the mission or trading stations
occasionally wear trousers. The personal appearance of the men does
not amount to much when all's done, so we will return to the ladies.
They wrap the upper hem of these cloths round under the armpits, a
graceful form of drapery, but one which requires continual
readjustment. The cloth is about four yards long and two deep, and
there is always round the hem a border, or false hem, of turkey red
twill, or some other coloured cotton cloth to the main body of the
paun. In addition to the cloth there is worn, when possible, a
European shawl, either one of those thick cotton cloth ones printed
with Chinese-looking patterns in dull red on a dark ground, this
sort is wrapped round the upper part of the body: or what is more
highly esteemed is a bright, light-coloured, fancy wool shawl, pink
or pale blue preferred, which being carefully folded into a roll is
placed over one shoulder, and is entirely for dandy. I am thankful
to say they do not go in for hats; when they wear anything on their
heads it is a handkerchief folded shawl-wise; the base of the
triangle is bound round the forehead just above the eyebrows, the
ends carried round over the ears and tied behind over the apex of
the triangle of the handkerchief, the three ends being then arranged
fan-wise at the back. Add to this costume a sober-coloured silk
parasol, not one of your green or red young tent-like, brutally
masculine, knobby-sticked umbrellas, but a fair, lady-like parasol,
which, being carefully rolled up, is carried handle foremost right
in the middle of the head, also for dandy. Then a few strings of
turquoise-blue beads, or imitation gold ones, worn round the shapely
throat; and I will back my Igalwa or M'pongwe belle against any of
those South Sea Island young ladies we nowadays hear so much about,
thanks to Mr. Stevenson, yea, even though these may be wreathed with
fragrant flowers, and the African lady very rarely goes in for
flowers. The only time I have seen the African ladies wearing them
for ornament has been among these Igalwas, who now and again stud
their night-black hair with pretty little round vividly red blossoms
in a most fetching way.
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