Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-09-20

/ ton. Hands, feet, ears, noses, were
mutilated, and the natives did not seem
to mind il much One woman had cut
off her own ears This woman was one
Of Kasongo's wives; he had about ! 600
of them. She asked permission 10 mu-
tilate herself, and she did it at once.
The body guard of the Chief was com
posed to a great extent of mutilated
people, whose affection for the Chief
seemed in no way decreased: indeed, il
would appear that mutilation strength
ened their regard for their Chief A
I laugh. The name of the idol was
/ kungwe Banza, and profound rcver-
! ence was shown to it. Fire was obtain
ed by friction from a fire block, and in
one case Chief used the shin bone of
one of the other Chiefs who had been
conquered. The dress of the people
was very simple, consisting of an apron.
Members Of the royal family wore three
large skins, and junior members of the
family wore aprons of green monkey
skins.
The hair dressing of this people was
curious, varying more with districts
than with rank. In some cases il was
worked up into four ring plaits crossed
al the top of the head like Il crown, and
surrounded at the bottom with a band
of cowries or other shells. Skewers
were inserted in the hair, one end of
which could be used in tattooing. The
people We're not hairy race, but they
managed to grow their boards long. and
plated them like Chinaman's pigtail.
usually putting at the end of each "a
lump of mud TO weight it. Some Of the
boards reached to the waists. The
women, not having boards to amuse
themselves with, were tattooed extern
sively. Tattooing usually commenced
AT the age OF seven. and might be COM
pleted about the age of twelve or four
teen, which was the time for marriage.
Beautiful patterns We're used, and the
tattooing was done in raised cuts.
Sometimes husband, when he was
displeased with his wife, cut off these
raised pieces, and the woman could not
appear in public again; she was not re-
ceived into society until she was retat-
tooed. Laughter.
He SAW one of their weddings, which
was very curious. The festivities lasted
several days. A ring was formed of the |
natives, two men with big drums being
in the middle. The drums We're PLAYED /
and the people round danced. The I
bride was brought out, dressed in feath- /.
ers ana other finery, on the shoulders of
two or three women: she was taken in
to the middle of the ring, and was Jump I
ed up and down on the shoulders OF /
the women. The bride threw shells and 4
beads about. for which there was a /
scramble, as the possession of them was /
supposed to confer luck. Ultimately 7
the husband came into the ring, and .
putting the bride under his arm carried .
her off. Laughter. The means Of .
communication was by drum signals
They had call on the drum, for every
body's name, and they could ask ques-
tions and convey intelligence over hun
dreds of miles, and receive answers al
most Immediately. In war messages
were constantly sent enormous dis
tances TO bring up reinforcements or 10
stop their coming. The mass of the
people lived in huts on dry land, but
there were one or two exceptions to this.
He saw two lakes on which people were
living in huts. In one ease the people
had covered over the long grass grow
ing in the water with earth, and on that
had built their huts; in the other the
huts were built on piles The language
of the country belonged to the same
broad family which stretched across the
large belt of Africa traversed by him,
and the grammar was on the same prin-
ciples rs the grammar of the Swaeli
CHEERS.