(_By a Student of Anthropology._)
Sir JAMES FRAZER'S luminous _résumé_ of the investigations of the MACKIE
Expedition amongst the Banyoros has only one defect. He omits all reference
to the subsequent and even more fruitful visit of the Expedition to the
adjoining Noxas tribe, whose manners and customs are of extraordinary
interest. This remarkable race are noted not merely for their addiction to
the dance, but for the kaleidoscopic rapidity with which the dances
themselves are changed from season to season. Only a few years ago the
entire tribe were under the spell of the Ognat, which in turn gave place to
the Tortskof and the Zaj, the last named being an exercise in which violent
contortions of the body were combined with the profoundest melancholy of
facial expression. Curiously enough the musicians who are employed at these
dances are not of indigenous stock, but of a negroid type and are imported
from a distance at high salaries.
The literary gifts of this singular tribe are on a par with their saltatory
talent, but are at present mainly occupied in the keeping of personal
records, led therein by a chieftainess named Togram, in which the
conversations, peculiarities, complexions and dresses of their friends are
set down and described with ferocious _bonhomie_. The tablets containing
these records are then posted up in conspicuous places of resort, with the
most stimulating and entertaining results.
It is noteworthy that the ruler of the country is not chosen from the
dancing or Bunihugoro section of the community, but from the powerful Renim
clan, who devote themselves intermittently to the task of providing the
country with fuel. The chieftain wields great power and is regarded with
reverence by his followers, but is in turn expected to devote himself
entirely to their interests, and if he fails to satisfy is promptly
replaced by a more energetic leader. As the great bulk of the community
yield allegiance to an hereditary sovereign of strictly defined powers this
interesting country offers the agreeable spectacle of a state in which the
dulness of constitutional government is happily tempered by the delights of
industrial dictatorship.
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