“We cannot see your face any more!
“You will never walk with us again!
“You will never again settle our palavers for us!”
And so on, ad libitum. In fact, the lives of the Bakalai, which might be so joyous and free of care, are quite embittered by the superstitious fears which assail them on every side.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE ASHIRA.
APPEARANCE AND DRESS OF THE NATIVES — A MATRIMONIAL SQUABBLE — NATURAL CUNNING OF THE ASHIRA — VARIOUS MODES OF PROCURING FOOD — NATIVE PLANTATIONS — THE CHIEF’S “KOMBO,” OR SALUTATION — ASHIRA ARCHITECTURE — NATIVE AGRICULTURE — SLAVERY AMONG THE ASHIRA — MEDICINE AND SURGERY — AN “HEROIC” TREATMENT — SUPERSTITIONS — HOW TO CATCH GAME — TRIAL OF THE ACCUSED — THE ORDEAL OF THE RING — THE ASHIRA FAREWELL — FUNERAL CEREMONIES — DEATH AND BURIAL OF OLENDA.
The tribe next in order is the Ashira. These people are not so nomad in their habits as the Bakalai, and are therefore more concentrated in one locality. They certainly are apt to forsake a village on some great occasion, but they never move to any great distance, and are not so apt to take flight as the Bakalai. The Ashira are a singularly fine race of men. Their color is usually black, but individuals among them, especially those of high rank, are of a comparatively light hue, being of a dark, warm bronze rather than black. The features of the Ashira are tolerably good.
The dress of the natives has its distinguishing points. The men and married women wear the grass-cloth robe, and the former are fond of covering their heads with a neat cap made of grass. So much stress do they lay on this article of apparel, that the best way of propitiating an Ashira man is to give him one of the scarlet woollen caps so affected by fishermen and yachtsmen of our country. There is nothing which he prizes so highly as this simple article, and even the king himself will think no sacrifice too great provided that he can obtain one of those caps.
The men also carry a little grass bag, which they sling over one shoulder, and which is ornamented with a number of pendent strings or thongs. It answers the purpose of a pocket, and is therefore very useful where the clothing is of so very limited a character. Both sexes wear necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, made of thick copper bars, and they also display some amount of artistic taste in the patterns with which they dye their robes.
The strangest part of Ashira fashion is, that the females wear no clothing of any kind until they are married. They certainly tie a small girdle of grass cloth round the waists, but it is only intended for ornament, not for dress. As is usual in similar cases, the whole of the toilet is confined to the dressing of the hair and painting of the body. The woolly hair is teased out with a skewer, well rubbed with oil and clay, and worked up until it looks something like a cocked hat, rising high on the top of the head and coming to a point before and behind. Mostly, the hair is kept in its position by a number of little sticks or leaves, which are passed through it, and serve as the framework on which it rests. Filing the teeth is practised by the Ashira, though very few of them carry the practice to such an extent as to reduce the teeth to points.