KEDERU DANCES. 309 as the species grown by us in the south, dokhn (Penicillaria), eleusine, a great deal of sesame, two species of Lubia, a little Hyptis, and tobacco are the chief plants cultivated. J also noticed large baskets filled with the woody fruits of a gardenia called kirruru, which is cooked and eaten. In physical appearance the Kederu are mostly of a middle height, with welldeveloped muscles and a good proportion of fat, not, however, being too corpulent. Their heads are rounder than those of the Bari and the Nyambara, and are better proportioned in both diameters, the forehead being more erect. The face is also rounder and less prognathous. ‘The nose is short, and the lips not very pouting; the feet are small and perfectly flat. The skin is a good deal darker than that of their southern ~ neighbours, although a reddish ground-tone is observable. The hair is sometimes worn partially shorn; this is, however, not usual, for the short locks are generally plaited with all kinds of ornaments, and, ike the body, they are coloured with ochre mixed with oil. The ornaments are very various—from the tails of the genet cat, which the men carry hanging from their elbows, and the bead earrings worn by both sexes, to the huge iron rings with which they decorate the upper arm; everything, in fact, is represented which the Negro fancy can invent. ‘The leaf-aprons of the women, often worn only for form’s sake, vary, according to individual taste, from a thick bunch of green leaves, which form a real covering, to a simple green twig. The weak, but here very sturdy, sex is very scantily attired, and many of the greasy beauties, laden with iron rings, have absolutely no clothing save their colour. The women appear to enjoy the greatest freedom, and mix on all occasions with the men in a perfectly unconventional manner. -The dance, which here also is accompanied by drums and the clapping of sticks, consists of a complete set of really beautiful evolutions, and the tingling of the anklets of the dancers in perfect time adds a new kind of music. I saw a young man being carried round sitting on the shoulders of a comrade ; he was singing and gesticulating with his arms, spreading them out above the people, as if blessing them, and was surrounded by a ring of women dancing in a spirited manner, and crying shrilly, Yo, yo; it was a scene which might have