The neck
supports many strings of beads, long and short, with the
indispensable talismans. The body dress is a Tobe or loin-cloth,
like that of the men; but under the "Namba," or outer wrapper,
which hangs down the feet, there is a "Siri," or petticoat,
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.
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