316 KEDIBA TO BITI.

rivers, where game is abundant and safe retreats available. The chiefs near whom they dwell are compelled to provide the Akka with corn, bulbs, and whatever else is necessary for their maintenance, in return for which they receive the skins, feathers, tails, &c., of the animals caught in the chase. They are very vindictive, and if refused a request they become dangerous. They are exceptionally expert as hunters, and I had an opportunity of witnessing their dexterity in killing birds, which they shoot with arrows from which the iron tips have been removed.

This morning another Akka was brought to me. He was about twenty-five years old, and his two conductors could hardly hold him fast. He was one of a number of Monbuttu slaves whom I had confiscated the previous day. He had only recently been brought here from his home with the Monbuttu slaves whom I seized yesterday, and he had hidden himself, from fear of being killed and eaten, in the straw roof of a hut, | where he had remained undiscovered until driven out by hunger. | Notwithstanding his resistance, he had been brought here from Amadi; on the road he escaped into the high grass, and was only recaptured after considerable trouble. I ordered his release, but he protested energetically against accompanying the Monbuttu, and demanded to be allowed to go to his home by himself, which was at last permitted him. He had a reddish but rather dark skin (probably dirt), was very prognathous, rather swag-bellied, but exceedingly nimble. His height was three feet six inches. His whole body was covered by thick, stiff hair, almost like felt, which was especially thick on the breast, around the navel, and on the pubes. ‘This was the case with all the Akka I have as yet examined. The wrinkles of their skin, especially at the corners of the eyes, are very remarkable, and give to the Akka their lachrymose expression, also making them look older than they really are. Mixed marriages between the Akka and Momvu result in individuals having a coppery complexion, playing into yellow, whilst in all other respects the Akka type predominates. <A sirl of about fourteen years of age, the issue of such a marriage, measured three feet seven-eighths of an inch. The smell of the perspiration, which is very penetrating and