Identifier: voicefromcongoco00ward (find matches)
Title: A voice from the Congo : comprising stories, anecdotes, and descriptive notes
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Ward, Herbert, 1863-1919
Subjects: Ward, Herbert, 1863-1919 Africa, Central -- Description and travel Africa, Central -- Social life and customs
Publisher: New York : Charles Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: University of Connecticut Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Connecticut Libraries

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jaw; the women wear a smallapron in front and behind, suspended from a belt ofgrass cord; ear decorations of wood and metal, andin many instances a stick six inches long is insertedthrough a hole in the dividing cartilage of the nose. Among the Upper Congo natives the variety in cos-tume and ornamentation is more extensive. Themen wear a strip of grass fibre cloth, or beaten bark(the bark of the fig tree from which the sap has beenbeaten), suspended in front and behind from a waistbelt. Their bodies are frequently marked with linesand designs of pigment; charcoal, clay, ochre andlime, or pipeclay and camwood constituting the basisof colour. The hair and beard are either shaved or areplaited, into elaborate braids and points, according tothe tribal custom in vogue. The hair of the eyebrowsand the eyelashes both of men and women, is invari-ably extracted—(a common practice also with theancient Greeks and Romans). A native of the Ba-bangi tribe, careless of his personal appearance, and
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Head of Pigmy chief From the bronze by W. Goscombe John, R.A. In the Collection of the Author IN GENERAL 289 whose eyelashes are not extracted, is dubbed Mesunkongea (hairy eyes). The finger-nails are pared and scraped to thequick. Among the cannibal tribes the front incisorteeth are chipped to points by means of an iron chisel. Iron anklets and bracelets, of varied weight, areextensively worn by both men and women. Neck-lets and bracelets of human teeth, dried ringers, andcollar-bones are frequently worn in communitieswhere cannibalism is practised. The Babangi tribes wear a massive iron or coppercollar called molua; also anklets of the samemetals. The collars weigh between 15 and 20 lbs.,and sometimes exceed even this weight. It is nouncommon sight to see a native woman lying downin order to relieve herself of the heavy weight ofher metal collar; and frequently these metal collarscause wounds on the shoulders, wounds which be-come ulcerous sores. Metal ornaments are consid-ered to e

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