reaching only to the knees. Both are gathered in front like the
Shukkah of the eastern coast, and the bosom is left bare. Few
except the bush-folk now wear the Ibongo, Ipepe, or Ndengi, the
woven fibres and grass-cloths of their ancestry; amongst the
hunters, however, a Tanga, or grass-kilt, may still be seen. The
exposure of the upper person shows the size and tumidity of the
areola, even in young girls; being unsupported, the mammae soon
become flaccid.

The legs, which are peculiarly neat and well turned, are made by
art a fitting set-off to the head. It is the pride of a Mpongwe
wife to cover the lower limb between knee and ankle with an
armour of metal rings, which are also worn upon the wrists; the
custom is not modern, and travellers of the seventeenth century
allude to them. The rich affect copper, bought in wires two feet
and a half long, and in two sizes; of the larger, four, of the
smaller, eight, go to the dollar; the brass are cheaper, as 5: 4;
and I did not see iron or tin. The native smiths make the
circles, and the weight of a full set of forty varies from
fifteen to nineteen pounds. They are separate rings, not a single
coil, like that used by the Wagogo and other East African tribes;
they press tightly on the limb, often causing painful chafes and
sores. The ankle is generally occupied by a brass or iron chain,
with small links. Girls may wear these rings, of which the
husband is expected to present a considerable number to his
bride, and the consequence is, that when in full dress she
waddles like a duck.

Commerce and intercourse with whites has made the Mpongwe, once
the rudest, now one of the most civilized of African tribes; and,