Just before sunset a canoe comes alongside and fastens to the ship,
although it is travelling at full speed. It is indeed wonderful to see
the way the natives manipulate these narrow dug-outs not two feet wide.
In this one were three fishermen with some fish which looked like trout
for sale. At once a great clamouring takes place among the native
passengers and it soon becomes plain that the chief fisherman was a good
man of business. Having taken an empty bottle for one fish and a piece
of cloth for another, he refused more of those articles and demanded
either salt or mitakos for his goods. In a short time however, he had
disposed of his cargo and paddled contentedly away.

[Illustration: NATIVES OF THE UPPER CONGO.]

The natives are very vain and take much trouble over their personal
appearance. As their clothes are very simple this is concentrated on
their tatooage and on their hair dressing. From a hopeless looking
tangle of black tow a very pretty erection is created by the barbers who
are of both sexes. Often the hair has five or six separate partings and
quills or feathers are inserted into the ridges in between. All the
women here wear a simple piece of cloth as they do in the Lower Congo
and sometimes a plain leather belt is worn round the waist. The arms and
legs are bare and covered with plain bangles made of mitakos. The women
wear no hat of any kind, but the men ape the Europeans and appear in
old helmets or straw hats. Both sexes are very clean personally, and
bathe frequently in the river, but never dry themselves afterwards. The
men keep on their loin cloths, but if they wear also shirts or trousers,
take these off, while the women bathe in a white linen loin cloth and
everyone afterwards pulls on his other clothes without drying. Many
natives rub a red powder into the skin made from cam-wood and thus
acquire a copper colour, while others paint their faces with various