TAK FAEBE. 129 more than report to the higher authorities the information we had received.

The Madi chief, Tak Farre, came to pay us a visit ; he is a very tall, spare man, and does not give one a very pleasant impression. On his arms he wears large iron bracelets with spikes, some are straight, being two and three inches long, and others are curved ; these he uses as weapons in war, and he also finds them of service in times of peace to keep his numerous wives in due subjection to himself and at peace among themselves. European ladies, I expect, would not wish their lords to adopt such ornaments. "We visited him at his village, Kerryi-maga, and saw his five sons ; they were bright, good-looking, intelligent children, but much frightened at us, as we were the first white men they had seen, and they thought we might fancy them for dinner. Besides being chief of his own tribe, Tak Farre has under his authority about five thousand men from other tribes living near ; he resembles David in the Cave of Adullam, for any one who is discontented with his chief or other circumstances comes to Tak Farre and receives a welcome from him. The huts of his village are well made, with basketwork walls five feet high, the roofs bell-shaped, and the doors two and a half feet high. The women have wooden discs in the upper lip, or in place of the disc a brass ring with a few beads ; most of the people wear necklaces of human VOL. n. K