SPORT IN LATUKA. 225 g, and transacting business. Under the trees the boys engage in basketmaking, for which the leaves of the doléb palms furnish excellent material.

The men are usually quite naked, and deck themselves with ornaments made of iron, and sometimes of copper, which is highly prized. Spiral coils of brass, which find their way here from Zanzibar through Uganda, are much sought after and much valued. Cowries are valueless. Bead ornaments are little cared for, except a dark blue cylindrical sort, called maujir in the Sudan, which are used for waistbands and necklaces, and small coral and blood-red beads, with which they decorate the head-dresses. The latter have the form of an antique helmet ; they were mentioned by Baker. ‘They are made of a thick felt of human hair, and are adorned with plates of copper, red beads, cowrles, empty brass cartridge-cases, the fruit of the Abrus precatorius, &c.; but a tuft composed of the gaudiest feathers procurable, resembling the old plumes of heron’s feathers, is considered their chief ornament. For this purpose gay-coloured weaver-birds, &c., are snared, and this practice has often given me a good opportunity of ascertaining the native names of birds.

Scars on the forehead, temples, and breast are common tribal marks.

The only weapons I have seen are spears and shields. Knob-sticks are used by the women for killing bustards. The men are excellent hunters and extraordinarily courageous ; they attack the elephant and rhinoceros with the spear, and also the buffalo, a still greater feat, for the hunted often hunt the hunter. The solitary old bulls are especially dangerous ; they take possession of certain districts, and often render the roads impassable. One of these animals established itself near our station, and after severely injuring ten men in eight days, it was killed, but not till it had received twenty-three bullets! In this district hunting parties are formed throughout the whole year, as there is no close time. The name given to this very village by the Danagla when they first occupied the country, and which is in use at the present time, was Zervbetes-Sayadin (the hunters’ village), which shows that sport has long been pursued by the inhabitants.

Women and girls are much more numerous here than men.

bed smoking’