160 Bahr El Ghazal.

Dinkas. The Dinkas. — There is no ruling chief, but every little district has its own head man or sheikh, and fighting frequently occurs between neighbouring districts. A man is powerful in proportion to the number of cattle he owns and the size of his family. Head men may own up to 30 or even 40 wives, but six is a fair average. The great object of the Dinka is to acquire cattle, to which they pay a kind of reverence. Owing to in-breeding the produce of cattle is not numerous. The yield of milk is insignificant. The price of a wife* varies from 25 to 40 head of cattle. A head man is generally succeeded by his eldest son ; and in this respect the Dinkas are generally loyal. In character they are savage, deceitful, and treacherous, but their domestic ties are strong. Tending flocks and herds is the occupation of the Dinka. They are very lazy, and cultivate only small crops ; but they levy taxes of corn and produce on the neighbouring Jurs and Golos.

The Dinkas are poor sportsmen. They do some fishing, chiefly with spears in the pools of rivers during the dry season, but are bad trackers and hunters of big game. Spears, long in shaft and blade, made by the Jurs, and wooden clubs of hard wood or ebony are their weapons. Tobacco is grown, chiefly for chewing, and occasionally for smoking. Most of the men carry a plug of tobacco behind the ear.

Dura crops ripen in September in the low-lying areas, being sown in May. Lubia (beans), pumpkins, and monkey nuts are also cultivated. Cow dung is used for fires. The ashes of charcoal and cow dung are rubbed in the hair, and all over the body by the cattle owners and young warriors.

The Dinkas are a tall, slim race of men, 5 feet 9 inches being a fair average height, and the women about 5 feet 7 inches. The men wear no clothing, but fantastic head-dresses decked with ostrich feathers ; they are fond of beads as ornaments. The women wear numerous earrings of brass and a leather apron fore and aft. Brass bracelets are •KOTn by both men and women ; ivory bracelets by the men only. Compare also pp. 126 to 1.30 and pp. 132 and 144. Jure. The Jurs. — The Jurs are very like the Dinkas in appearance, the skin being perhaps a shade lighter, but in habits they are more civilised and peaceful. They are said to have originally been a branch of the Shilluk tribe. Their language is quite different from the Dinkas, but most of them speak and understand the language of the latter, to whom they are subservient.

Living on the northern slope of the ferruginous table-land, where ore is easily obtained from the surface, the Jurs practise iron-smelting, with small furnaces about 4 feet high from the ground. " Malots " (small hand-trowels used for turning the soil), spears, cowbells, and axes are made in this way.

Dura is cultivated extensively, but is later than the Dinka crops, ripening in November. This may be said of all the dura grown in the plateaux and higher ground away from the marshes.

The Jurs understand tracking, and are accustomed to setting rough traps for lion, leopard, and hyena. The women, like the Dinkas, wear leather aprons, bracelets and anklets of brass or iron. A wife costs from 40 to 50 malots, or 20 or 30 sheep and goats. The men are fond of clothing. Golos. The Golcs. — The Golos are an intelligent, active race, willing to learn and to work.

The cultivation of crops is their chief occupation. Besides dura and Indian corn they grow telabun, dukhn, lubia, simsim, onions, sweet potatoes, water melons, pumpkins and " bedingan." They keep a few sheep and many fowls, but no cattle.

The huts are well built, with ventilation between the wall and roof, and are clean both inside and outside.

" Malots " (iron hoes) are bought from the Jurs for honey, skins, labour, etc. A wife costs 40 malots. The men are fond of clothes, and are generally clad like the Sudanese over the rest of the Sudan. They are fairly skilful weavers, using the cotton of the country, which, however, is not extensively cultivated. The women, on the contrary, are content with a bunch of leaves fore and aft, but are fond of beads.

The Golos are good sportsmen and trackers. They possess a fair number of guns, chiefly old traders and Remington rifles, but have very little ammunition. Bows and arrows and elbow knives are other weapons used. Bongos. The Bongos. — The Bongos have the same occupations and appearance as the Golos, but are rather shorter and more thick-set.

The women wear a large circular stone on the upper lip or a wooden plug pierced through the lower. Decimated by the Nyam Nyams and slave-traders, very few of them practise the crafts that they were formerly skilled in. Like the Jurs, they are accustomed to smelting ore and working in iron. Their dexterity in wood carving is shown in the various utensils, stools, spoons, etc., which they still make. Great attention and trouble is devoted to basket work and weaving grass mats.

The Bongos are fond of music, and play with string and wind instruments. The Ndoggos and Kreich. — The Ndoggos and Kreich are similar to the Golos and Bongos in appearance, but reicli. not 80 comely as the former and not so short as the Bongos. They are slightly fairer in skin. Having formerly lived prosperously in the districts where the old Government posts were established (Deim Zubeir, Deim Bekir, Deim Idris, N( and * Compare pp. 128 and 145, price of wives amongst Dinkas at Bor, and amongst the Siiilluks, p. 193.