The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-15

her hands, muttering all the while, in a low
voice words which | could not understand.
Having continued this wholesome friction for
some time, she took q piece OF alumbt chalk
and made with 1t broad stripe along the
middle of his chest and down each arm. This
done she chewed a quantity of some kind OF
roots and seeds, and having charged her mouth
well saliva, spat upon him i'm different places,
but aiming her heaviest shots at the parts most
affected. Finally, she took bunch OF a par.
ticular kind OF grass, which had been gathered
when in bloom and was now dry, and, lighting
IT, touched with the flame the body OF her pa
tent In various places, beginning at the foot and
gradually ascending TO the head. could perceive
that Mayolo smarted with the pain of the burns
when the torch remained too long When the
flame was extinguished the woman applied the
burnt end of the torch to her patients body,
and so the operations ended. .
'1t seemed to me that there was some super.
stiton of deep significance connected with the
application of FIRE in these 0tando cures. They
appeared to have great faith in the virtues OF
fire, and this is perhaps not far removed from
fre-worship ] asked the old woman why she
used this kind of remedy, and what power she
attributed to fre but her only answer was that
it prevented the illness with which Mayolo had
been afflicted coming again. The female doc
tor, need scarcely add, had come from dis
tance tor it is always so in primitive Africa
the further of doctor or W1tchdnder lives, the
greater his reputation"
We turn from the survey of African medicine
with the determination to trust for the future
with greater confidence in the prescriptions of
our own Galeno; but an enlightened perception
of the beautiful, as exhibited in the chignons OF
the ladies Of Ishogo, must not be passed over in
silence. A hint may be cleaned from the few
following descriptive paragraphs; in which, per-
haps, one or two things are mentioned which
public opinion would scarcely sanction as pro-
per for importation into this country
"The Ishogos are a fine tribe of negroes;
they are strongly and well built, with we'll
developed limbs and broad shoulders |
consider them superior to the Ashiras in ply
sique, and remarked that they generally had
finer heads, broader IN the part where phreno-
logists place the organs OF ideality. With some
of them their general appearance reminded me
of the Fans. The women have good 6gures
they tattoo themselves in various parts of the
bOdy-on the shoulders, arms, breast, back, and
abdomen-and some OF them have raised pea
like marks similar TO those of the Apono women,
between the eyebrows and on the cheeks.
Both men and women adopt the custom of pull
ing out the two middle incisOrs of the upper
jaw but this mode of adding to their personal
attractions is not SO general as among the
Aponos; many file their upper incisors and
two or three of the lower ones to point
The men and women ornament themselves
with red powder, made by rubbing two pieces
OF barwood together; but their most remarka-
BILE fashions relate to the dressing Of the hair.
On my arrival at lgoumbie, L had noticed how
curious the head-dresses OF the women were,
being so unlike the fashions had seen among
any of the tribes / had visited. Although
| these medes are sometimes Every grotesque,
they are not devoid of what English
might consider good taste: III short,
| they cultivate a remarkable sort of chignons.
| l have remarked three different ways of hair
| dressing as most prevalent among the Ishogo
| bellies. The first is to train the hair into
| tower-shaped mass elevated from eight to ten
| inches from the crown of the head; the hair
| from the forehead to the base of the tower, and
| also that OF the back part up to the ears being
closely shaved off. In order to give shape to
| the tower, they make a framework, generally
! out of old pieces of grasscloth and fix the hair
round It, All the chignons are worked up on a
! frame. Another mode is to wear the tower,
| with two round balls OF hair one on each side,
above the ear. A third fashion is similar to the
first, but the tower, instead OF being perpen-
| diCuar TO the crown, is inclined obliquely from
the back OF the head, and the front of the head
is clean shaven almost to the middle. The neck
is also shorn closely up to the ears.
THE hair on these towers has parting in
the middle and on the sides, which Is very neatly
| done. The whole structure must require years
| OF careful training before it reaches the pereC-
| tion attained by the leaders OF Ishogo fashion.
| A really good chignon is not attained until the
owner is about twenty or twenty-five years Of
! age. 1t is the chief object of ambition with
! the young lshogo women to possess "a good
! well-trained and well-greased tower of HAIR of
| the kind that l describe. Some women are
| fur better dresseTs OF HAIR than others,
| and are much sought for-the fixing
| and cleaning of the halr requiring long day
| work. The woman who desires to have her hair
dressed must either pay the hair-dresser or must
| promise to perform the same kind Office to her
| neighbor in return.
"Once fixed, these chignons remain for a
| couple of months without requiring TO be rear
| ranged and the mass of insect life that accumu-
| lates in them during that period is truly aston
| ishing. However, the women make use OF their
large iron or ivory hairpins (Which l described
| in 'Equatorlcl AtricaO In the place OF combs.
| The fashion of the 'chagnOR' was unknown when
| LETT Europe so that to the bellies of AfriCu be-
| longs the credit of the invention. The women
| wear no ornaments in the ears, aud / saw none
| who had their ears pierced; they are very diff
| ferent from the Apngi in this respect. Like the
women OF other tribes, they are not allowed to
wear more than two denguis, or pieces of grass
| cloth, by way OF petticoat. This stlnted clothing
! has ludicrous effect in the fat danes, as the
| pieces do not then meet well in the middle.
'The men also have fancy ways OF trimming
| their halr. The most fashionable style is to
| shave the whole Of the head except circular
| patch on the crown, and to form this into three
| hnely plated divisions each terminating in a
| point and hanging down. AT the end of each OF
| these they fix large bead or piece of iron or
| brass wire, so that the effect is very singular.
| The lshogo people shave their eyebrows and
| pull out their eyelashes."
| NJ. Du Chaillu obligingly furnishes us with an
| inventory OF the rousseau of bride OF Mobana,
! a hiGhland town of the Ashanges:-
'Mobana is large place, with houses like
| those OF Niembouai. Numerous bee-hives hang
| against the houses or are scattered among the
| plantain'uees. Goats are plentiful; some OF
them are OF great size, and very lat. THESE gene
! rally form part of the dowry given when q
! woman is married. While at MObana, assisted
| at the departure OF young woman VINO hau
| been given in marriage TO man OF nelehoor-
| ing village. Her father was to take her Ihere'
| with all the marriage outfit (trOuSsedu de H1u
| ridgG). 1t consisted OF eight of the plates OF
| the country, such as l have already descrlpeui
| two large baskets for carrying planCalus itOu
the plantations, or Calabashes tull OF water rom
| the spring; "a great number OF calaDashes'
| of "a