inches had a breadth of sixty inches. It is not in nature
for people to be made to fit these things. So I suggested
that a few stuffed negroes should be sent home for distribution
in working-party centres, and then the ladies could try the
things on. My friend’s answer was far from being personally
complimentary, so I will not give it, but return hurriedly to
the Igalwa ladies in the Lembarene village, sitting on the
sunny sandy street on their low, wood country stools. The
IGALWA WOMEN.
chairs I have mentioned before are “ for dandy ” not for
use.
Those among them who may not be busy sewing, are busy
doing each other’s hair. Hair-dressing is quite an art among
the Igalwa and M’pongwe women, and their hair is very
beautiful; very crinkly, but fine. It is plaited up, close to
the head, partings between the plaits making elaborate
parterres. Into the beds of plaited hair are stuck long pins
of river ivory (hippo), decorated with black tracery and
openwork, and made by their good men. A lady will stick
as many of these into her hair as she can get, but the prevailing
mode is to have one stuck in behind each ear, showing
their broad, long heads above like two horns ; they are ex ceedingly
becoming to these black but comely ladies, verily
I think, the comeliest ladies I have ever seen on the Coast.
Very black they are, blacker than many of their neighbours,
always blacker than the Fans, and although their skin lacks
that velvety pile of the true negro, it is not too shiny, but it is
fine and usually unblemished, and their figures are charmingly
rounded, their hands and'feet small, almost as small as a high-
class Calabar woman’s, and their eyes large, lustrous, soft and
brown, and their teeth as white as the sea surf and undisfigured
by filing.
The native dress for men and women alike is the cloth or
paun. The men wear it by rolling the upper line round
the waist, and in addition they frequently wear a singlet
or a flannel shirt worn more Africano, flowing free. Rich
men will mount a European coat and hat, and men connected
with the mission or trading stations occasionally wear
trousers. The personal appearance of the men does not
amount to much when all’s done, so we will return to the
ladies. They wrap the upper hem of these cloths round under
the armpits, a graceful form of drapery, but one which requires
continual readjustment. The cloth is about four yards long
and two deep, and there is always round the hem a border,
or false hem, of turkey red twill, or some other coloured
cotton cloth to the main body of the paun. In addition
to the cloth there is worn, when possible, a European shawl,
either one of those thick cotton cloth ones printed with
Chinese-looking patterns in dull red on a dark ground, this
sort is wrapped round the upper part of the body : or what
is more highly esteemed is a bright, light-coloured, fancy wool
shawl, pink or pale blue preferred, which being carefully
folded into a roll is placed over one shoulder, and is entirely
for dandy. I am thankful to say they do not go in for hats ;
when they wear anything on their heads it is a handkerchief
folded shawlwise ; thé base of the triangle is bound round
the forehead just above the eyebrows, the ends carried round