130 AFRICAN WANDERINGS.

liaps to tell of tlieir whereabouts ; the ringing of the bells mucli delight the small wearers. That the women keep their hair well anointed with fat, and their bodies smeared with it or grease, is a matter of course.

But here in Taka, where they are treated more as slaves, the women dare not smear fat (dichen) on their hair ; here, too, they seem compelled to do most of the field work and household labour, while in Nubia and Gesira they pass the whole day on their couches in comfortable idleness, leaving all labour to the men and slaves.

The pretended pearls brought bj' Dschellabi (slave-dealers) into Egypt, and bartered with the blacks and natives of Habesch for slaves and other goods, often at a profit of 1,000 per cent., may be seen at times worn by the men on different parts of their bodies as ornaments, but very sparingly. Ear-rings of lead and silver are worn by both men and women of Habesch, and those worn by the Sultan of Habesch and his family were of gold ; these ornaments are not worn in the lobe of the ear, but in the upper gristly part, or in the elongation of the skin opposite to or over the orifice of the ear. Usually one ear only is thus adorned, and many, like the Sheik of the Beni-Amer, had two rings in the same ear. Rings through the right nostril are less common here than in Upper Egypt or Nubia, and in Taka we saw none ; but where such are worn and happen to be lost or not in use, a piece of wood is always stuck in to keep the orifice open. On the feet are generally sandals, and in Chartum the women wear at times a curious kind, raised at front, and behind on bulky pieces of wood two inches thick, so that the foot can never touch the ground. If the object of this is to avoid wet or cold, it may answer ; but the walking on them seems hard work, and is by no means graceful.

The Arab's pet ornament of all is undoubtedly his beard, although with most of them this mark of manhood is neither full nor flowing. He values it more than mustachios ; by it he swears, and puts his hand on it when he would support aught lie tells as truth. A Skukurie-Arab liad a considerable and very painful wen on his chin ; to cure him of it, it would have been necessary to cut off his beard—a scanty and liardly visible one it was— but to this he would on no account submit ; he much preferred retaining wen and beard. The blacks of the island have little or no beard ; still