Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-06-12
FASHIONS In AFRICA.
Native Beaux and Bellies Adorn Them
selves as Wonderfully as do Civil
lied People.
Red, Blue. and Violet Paints on the
Body, and Coats of Tar on the
Shaved Head.

! 10 attract the auIn1raClOn OF men ana envy
of numbers of her own sex, says the New
York Tribune. Of course, the means
adopted for achieving this object accord
ing to age, climate, condition, and country.
But the aim in view is the same in every
case, and has prevailed ever since the
creation of the world. 1t is easy enough
for civilized people to improve their ap-
pearance by the many devices of modern
! dress, which present an inexhaustible field.
But it is far more difficult in the case of a
great many of the colored races, to whom
clothing is almost unknown, and who re-
gard garments as superhuous, and even
intolerable. in the torrid regions which
they inhabit. Notwithstanding this, even
the lowest of tribes, down to the remotest
grade of the human ladder. have their
fashions, and their ''mashers' and their
bellies
The inhabitants of the island of Fernando
Pc, who certainly belong to the lowest
class of negro, are in the habit of confding
their children, when the latter attain the
the age of 5 or years, to the witch
doctors, " who cut long gashes across the
foreheads and cheeks of the poor little
brown-faced pickanlnnies. This painful
operation leaver livid scars, which bear a
striking resemblance to the stripes of a
zebra, or to the CHASTITY mark on the
clammy skin of an East Indian swamp
snake. The Fernando Pc natives further
enhance their / good looks by wearing
strings Of chicken boEes, snail shells, and
waists, and by painting their bodies a
livid with the juice of shrub which
grows plentifully in the forests.
No l,,tln 80 10
German possessions, may be numbered
African savages. They consume a great
scarfs of cotton stuff around the middle,
polishing their teeth. This is done
by means of short, elastic sticks taken
from the bark of a peculiar tree which
fully rubbed, and finally polished with the
leaves of the box tree. The ''Dualla'' de-
| votes hours together to the care of his
teeth, and his enjoyment is complete when
he can afford to have a tom-tom player
strum away on his somewhat primitive
instrument while he performs his toilet.
The .Dualla women are rather pretty.
with their shining black faces, straight
features, and wavy hair, which they coil
very artistically on the tops of their small
and shapely heads. They cover their
boscms and arms with delicate tracery
of sky-blue tattooing, and wear white
linen scarfs striped with bright colors
around their loins
1.-The 'Bakongo' tribes who inhabit the
cataract regions of the lower Congo are
certainly the dirtiest of all the negro
races. They paint their bodies bright
violet color, and stain their cheeks with
zinobar, and plaster their smoothly shaven
heads with several layers of tar The
sickening odor which emanates from them
is impossible to describe, and five minutes
spent in one of their dingy huts is enough
to inspire the most courageous traveller
with Immediate desire to put all END TO
his days. The ladies' somewhat simple
costume among the 'Bakonga' consists of
string of brass beads tied around their
waists, from which two triangular bits of
cloth made of banana fbers depend. Glass
beads glitter on their breasts and hang in
long chaplets on their backs, each string
being terminated by small metal bell, so
that the female Bakongo announces her
approach much in the same manner as a
rattesnake. These repulsive looking
natives also wear wooden wedges in the
lobes of their ears and in the cartilage of
their noses. These wedges are deity
carved and inlaid with boads. and their
greater or less beauty Of workmanship
serves to designate the social status of the
wearer.
The Nasal" ferocious and piratic
east African tribe, not only wear these
wooden appendages, but also hang heavy
iron rings through the upper part of the
ear, which drag the latter downward in {;
very appalling way. The Nasal whmen
are rather handsome. They are tall and
graceful, and have perfect figures, the re-
suit of their being trained to carry and
balance heavy loads on their heads Their
hair is curly, and their lips are not so un-
pleasantly thick as in the case of most
other African races. They certainly are
not overdressed so far as clothing goes
But the elaborate manner in which they
arrange their hair is in itself a long and
laborous sacrifice to fashion 1t is not
alone civilized beauties who torture them
selves for the sake of appearing to the best
advantage. These latter have. it is true,
the monopoly of excrucliatingly tight cor
sets, or narrow shoes "a terrible prison for
those who care to submit to it,, of high stiff
collars, which give them the sensation of
being guillotined, and of many other in
ventions of modern milliners and fails
eurs. But even they can not conceive
what Nasal women suffers from the brass
ring. weighing from fifteen to twenty kilo-
grams, which it is considered ''the thing"
for her to wear around her neck It is
soldered so that she can not take it off, and
she is obliged to place handfuls of soft grass
between this ornament and her skin, so as
to avoid being cut to the bone thereby
Women can endure much. in the good
and worthy cause of a well-developed vani
ty. and the French proverb which says III
fault souffrir pour etre belle" is true even
in the wilds of Africa.
Still more cruel even is the fashion pre-
vailing among the "Bakutl" of upper
Congo. There the ladies pull out their
eye lashes and eyebrows with tweezers,
and slice patterns Of elaborate design ON
their cheeks and forehead with raxor-edged
knives. The "Marundja' and "Opoto"
tribes have knack of arranging their
teeth to suit their somewhat faneastical
taste, and which mi ght arouse somn aston
ishment among European and American
dentists. They file and break all their
front teeth into sharp points. so that the
happy possessor of such ''denture" iu-
voluntary reminds one of a full-grown
shark. ''Bongo' women in the Soudan
are distinguished by very peculiar adorn-
! ment Soon after marriage they begin to
bore their under lip, ard by introducing
wooden plugr gradually expand it to FIVE
/ or six times its natural size. The upper
| lip is also pierced, and a copper nail
or ring attached to it. Nor do the nostrils
oeoo,,o oaob of fba,,, boipor r,oDoro lI1, cfuoi