Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816
Lady in house-robe. Period, 1816
Costume for young girl. Period, 1821
Costume for young girl. Period, 1821
A Niam-niam girl
The social position of the Niam-niam women differ materially from what is found amongst other negroes in Africa. The Bongo and Mittoo women are on the same familiar terms with the foreigner as the men, and the Monbuttoo ladies are as forward , inquisitive and prying as can be imagined; but the women of the Niam-niam treat every stranger with marked reserve. Whenever I met any women coming along a narrow pathway in the woods or on the steppe, I noticed that they always made a wide circuit to avoid me, and returned into the path further on; and many a time I saw them waiting at a distance with averted face until I had passed by.
A Dinka Dandy
The portrait represents what might be styled a Dinka dandy, distinguished for unusually long hair. By continual combing and stroking with hair-pins, the hair of the negro loses much of its close curliness. Such was the case here: the hair, six inches long, was trained up into points like tongues of flame, and these, standing stiffly up all round his head, gave the man a fiendish look, which was still further increased by its being dyed a foxy red. This tint is the result of continual washing with cow-urine; a similar effect can be produced by the application for a fortnight of a mixture of dung and ashes.