hardly a disfigurement. Their many good qualities and high moral standard make them very valuable, and they are much sought after by Arab and even native chiefs for their harems. Another point that struck me among the Balubas within the Arab sphere of influence was their extreme personal cleanliness. A thorough bath half a dozen times a day was the rule rather than the exception. Amongst most of the natives in these districts it is customary for girls and boys to marry at the ages of seven and eight or nine respectively, yet it is an indisputable fact that the negroes are both a healthy and prolific race.

The women are middle-aged at fourteen or fifteen, and the men, with the exception of the chiefs, do not live to old age, the accidents of life among these savage tribes being so common that a man is usually killed before