are often almost black, whilst the women range between dark brown
and cafe au lait. The beard, usually scanty, is sometimes bien
fournie, especially amongst the seniors, but, whenever I saw a
light-coloured and well-bearded man, the suspicion of mixed blood
invariably obtruded itself. It is said that during the last
thirty years they have greatly diminished, yet their habitat is
still that laid down half a century ago by Bowdich, and all admit
that the population of the river has not been materially
affected.

The Mpongwe women have the reputation of being the prettiest and
the most facile upon the West African coast. It is easy to
distinguish two types. One is large-boned and heavy-limbed,
hoarse-voiced, and masculine, like the "Ibos" of Bonny and New
Calabar, who equal the men in weight and stature, strength and
endurance, suggesting a mixture of the male and female
temperaments. Some of the Gaboon giantesses have, unlike their
northern sisters, regular and handsome features. The other type
is quasi-Hindu in its delicacy of form, with small heads, oval
faces, noses a la Roxolane, lips sub-tumid but without
prognathism, and fine almond-shaped eyes, with remarkably thick
and silky lashes. The throat is thin, the bosom is high and well
carried, or, as the admiring Arab says, "nejda;" the limbs are
statuesque, and the hands and feet are Norman rather than Saxon.
Many Europeans greatly admire these minois mutins et
chiffones.[FN#8]

Early in the present century the Mpongwe braided whiskers and
side curls, tipping the ends with small beads, and they plaited
the front locks to project like horns, after the fashion of the