Pincers used by the
Bongo women for plucking
out their eyelashes.
Knife of the Bongo women.
BONGO ORNAMENTS.
Equal care is bestowed upon the production of the iron and copper ornaments which are worn and the cutlery which is used by the women. For the purpose of plucking out their eyebrows and eyelashes, they employ a pair of little pincers called “peenoh,” of which an illustration is here introduced. Quite peculiar to the Bongo women are their “tibbah,” or elongated oval knives, with handles at either end, which are sharpened on both edges, and which are often very elaborate in their workmanship. These knives are in constant use for all domestic purposes, being of especial service in peeling their tubers and in slicing their gourds and cucumbers. The rings, the bells, the clasps, the buttons, whatever they affix to their projecting lips or attach to the rims of their ears, the lancet-shaped hair-pins, which appear indispensable to the decoration of the crown of their head and to the parting of their locks, all are fabricated to supply the demands of the Bongo women’s toilet.
The decoration of which the men are proudest is the “dangabor,” which simply means “rings one above another.” The Dinka and the Dyoor both have an ornament very similar to this, composed of accumulated rings, which cover the arm below the elbow; but the Bongo finish off their article with much more elaborate work. Each separate ring is furnished with a boss of a height and strength to correspond with the ring next to it, the rings themselves being forged so as to become gradually larger in proportion as they are farther from the wrist. The arm is thus covered with what may be described as a sleeve of mail, each ring of which can be turned round or displaced at pleasure.
The Dangabor and a single ring.