Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/370

 294 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. The Nubians Proper. Tha Barbarins are amongst the darkest of the African tribes. Their com- plexion varies from the colour of Florentine bronze to an almost bluish-black ; but under their dark skins are transparent reddish hues, by which they are clearly distinguished from the Central African Negroes. The head is dolichocephalous, and the receding forehead is covered with hair which, without being woolly like that of the Negro, is nevertheless very wavy. Like the Nigritians they have a scanty beard, but their features are much more regular; and Barabras are frequently met with who come up to the standard of European beauty. The nose is straight and firm, with broad nostrils ; the lips, clearly cut, are rarely thick or pouting ; the teeth are small and beautifully white ; the cheekbones are slightly prominent, and their regular features are set off by large, open, lustrous eyes. The Bar&bras are of middle height and well proportioned ; the chest is shapely and broad, the forearms and calves are somewhat slight, but less so than amongst the Bedouin nomads. Like the Funj and Bejas, they have the custom of making three oblique scars on each cheek, for which they can give no reason, as it does not serve to distinguish them from other peoples of Negro or Beja race. Under the pretence of working medical cures, the Barabras also disfigure their handsome bodies with wounds. Directly they experience any local pain or mere uneasiness, the barber cuts a gash in them, and draws off the blood which escapes from the wound through a cow's horn ; but to prevent the wound from healing too quickly it is kept open by irritating powders. At other times nails are made red-hot and thrust into the flesh by the head or point, according to the gravity of the disease. The usual dress of the Nubians consists of a tunic, over which they wear a long blue cotton robe like that of the Egyptian fellahin. The dress is completed by sandals and a felt skull-cap, for which some substitute the turban. "Weapons are forbidden, but there are few men who do not carry a knife or poignard con- cealed in the left sleeve and attached by a twisted leather thong. In the southern part of Nubia the majority of the young girls, instead of tunics, still wear the rahad, or girdle of fringe ornamented with pearls, glass beads, and shells. Nearly all the northern and southern Nubian women wear a ring in one of their nostrils, and pierce the lobe of the ear, inserting pieces of white wood, awaiting the time when their husbands shall replace them by trinkets of metal. The female manner of wearing the hair is still the same as that repre- sented on the Egyptian monuments ; but when a woman dies it is quite a day's work to unravel her hair, which is saturated with grease and ochre, because their religion forbids that they should be buried with the hair dressed. Some women after having curled their hair, cover it with a thick coat of gum, which causes it to grow round the head in the shape of a polished helmet. • The Nubians are laborious agriculturists. Like the Egyptians, they water the soil with the shaduf or sakieh, and sow it with durrah, dokhn, and other cereals. But the produce of their fields, restricted to a narrow zone between the river and