Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/162

 amongst the trees are a proof of the general security from the attacks of enemies or beasts of prey. In his many voyages across the world, Schuver nowhere found men whose simple pleasures, quiet life, and mutual kindness seemed to bring them more in harmony with the surrounding country. The Koma communities never quarrel with each other, and no jealous authority prevents the families from acting as they please; the people are guided by the opinion, and in important matters by the decision, of a public meeting.

The Komas extract the upper incisors. The men go naked, like most of their neighbours, but some wear a collar or necklace of teeth or pearls. From their

childhood the women are clothed with bark or cloth; engaged and married women mostly wear an apron embroidered with pearls and rounded pieces of broken ostrich eggs. The women, moreover, ornament themselves with red pigtails of hair or vegetable fibres, with which they scourge themselves when mourning for the dead. Their cries and sobs are heard almost every morning, even before cock-crow. The dead, men and women alike, are kept over a period of seven to ten years in special huts, built so as to protect them from the ants, the relatives and friends occasionally bringing them presents of salt or pearls. But when the bones are buried all these gifts are sold by auction to defray the expenses of a public feast.