The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-15

teeth. which, shine out bright and white
as he smiles.
The man next him has two brass
rings ON each OF his black thumbs,
bands of telegraph wire around his
wrists and two wide coils of wire
above and below the biceps of his left
arm. He has five wire bands about
his neck, circles OF wire under each
wire resting on each OF his feet. AS
i look can see the calloused places
where the wire has worn into his In
step, and this is worse on that third
man. Whose ankles are loaded with
twisted wire. The latter must have
several pounds on each leg. and the
wire OH the right leg extends from the
foot to the middle of the calf.
Now look at their heads. The first
man has short wool which hugs the
scalp. and the other two have twisted
their hair SO that II hangs down about
the head like the snakes of the Medusa.
DecrskIn Aprons.
+ / stop for a moment and ask the
men to turn around In order thatI may
get view from the rear. They are
not quite SO naked as ! had supposed.
Each has an apron of deerskin as big
us ~ lidy pcthtl ldS-
tened to his waistband behind. The
aprons are tanned with the fur on. and
are tied to the belts with deerskin
straps. AS far as decency goes. they
are of no value at all, and they seem
to be used more for ornam ent than
anything else.
Turning now TO other men in the
party about me, ] see that almost all
are similarly clad. although few have
skins thrown around their shoulders,
and some have more jeweiry. one or
two wear piece OF cotton cloth, and
a very few have waist cloths. / have
no trouble in getting the men to pose.
They have gone without clothes from
time immemorial. and think that the
use of them Is decidedly foolish.
Where the Women Wear Tails.
| let us turn our cameras now on
the women They are by no means so
| fine looking as the men. They are
shorter and not 50 we'll formed. Still
they are all there.
The younger girls are clad in bead
waist belts, and the older ones have
| each a tassei of fiber tied to girdle
about the waist This tassel Is fast
ened Just at the small of the back
and 1t hangs down behind At short
distance 1t looks like cows tail. ]
am told that 1T Is an indispensable
article of dress for every married wo-
| man; and that it is improper for a
stranger 10 touch it. Sir Harry John
ston, who covered these people, says
that even a husband dares not touch
this caudal appendage when worn by
his wife, and II. by mistake. 1t IL
touched. a goat must be sacrificed or
the woman will die from the insult.
Some of the native women here In
Port Florence wear little aprons OF
fiber about six inches long, extending
down at the front. II can see dozens
of them SO clad all about me. and for
a penny can get any of them to pose
for my camera. The young girls have
no clothes at all, and this is the Gus
tom throughout the country. Indeed
farther back in the interior the fringe
aprons are removed, and both sexes
are clad chiefly in jewelry of wire OF
various kinds
The strangest thing about the nudity
of these savages is that they are abso-
Ilutely unconscious of any wrong in It
Such of them as have not met Euro
peans do not know they are naked; and
a married women with her tail of palm
fiber is fully dressed. A traveller tells
how lie tried to educate a gang OF
naked young women whom he met out
In the country by cutting up some
| American slleeting and giving each q
petcc. The girls looked at the clothe.
! with interest; but evidently did not
know what to do with them. There.
| upon the White man took a strip anl