Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/50

 fond of tattooing their skins, and they practise it so rudely, that they sometimes raise the marks an eighth of an inch above the surface. The fashion most in vogue, is to make a stripe down the forehead along the nose to the chin, and another in a direct angle across from ear to ear, indented in a peculiar way, so as to give the face the appearance of its having been sewed together in four parts. They file their teeth to a point, in a manner that gives the whole set the appearance of a coarse saw, and this operation, to my surprise, does not injure either their whiteness or durability. They are likewise extremely fantastic in the mode of dressing their hair; some shave only one side of the head, others both sides, leaving a kind of crest, extending from the front to the nape of the neck, while a few are content to wear simply a knot on the top of their foreheads. They bore the gristle of the nose, and suspend to it ornaments made of copper or of bone. The protrusion of their upper lip is more conspicuous than in any other race of men I have seen, and the women in particular consider it as so necessary a feature to beauty, that they take especial care to elongate it, by introducing into the centre, a small circular piece of ivory, wood, or iron, as an additional ornament. The form of the females approximates to that of the Hottentot women, the spine being curved, and the hinder parts protruding; and indeed, to say the truth, it is scarcely possible to conceive a more disagreeable object to look at, than a middle-aged woman belonging to a tribe of the Makooa.

Wild as the Makooa are in their savage state, it is astonishing to observe how docile and serviceable they become as slaves, and when partially admitted to freedom, by being enrolled as soldiers, how quiokly their improvement advances, and how thoroughly their fidelity may be relied on. Among other enquiries, I was anxious to learn whether they entertain any notion of a Deity;—if they do, it must be an extremely obscure one, as they have no other word in their language to express the idea but "wherimb," which signifies also the sky. This remark is equally applicable to the Monjou, who in the same way apply the word "molungo," 'sky,' to their imperfect apprehension of the Deity.