The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎344r] (40/232)

AN EXPEDITION BETWEEN LAKE RUDOLF AND THE NILE.
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Beyond, to the west and north-west, stretched a vast plain, as far as we
could see. For a distance of about 30 miles the plain did not look so
unattractive with its occasional little watercourses, fringed by many a
pretty bit of green meadow or shady grove, but towards the horizon
the monotonous greyish-white appearance of the surface looked very
ominous. We spent three days on the top of the mountains in finding
a game trail, and clearing this so that the camels could descend. Game
was abundant, and it was in this country that I secured the specimens
of the new gazelle, which I previously referred to, and also two varieties
of buck, Aurebia haggardi and Aurebia montana.
At the foot of the hills we crossed at right angles the line of march
of the late Captain Wellby. A couple of marches beyond this brought us
to a large watercourse flowing west, where we found a new tribe of natives,
the Magois. Noticing from the dis
tance that the people were preparing
for a fight and driving away their
cattle, I pushed ahead with two boys,
and persuaded them to desist from
their hostile exhibitions. One stout
young fellow in particular persisted
for a long time in giving frequent
leaps into the air to show that he
would fight if called upon to do so,
but this man proved afterwards to
be as friendly and jolly as he was fat.
He is shown in the accompanying
photograph.
The Magois were distinctly dif
ferent from any tribe previously met
with on the journey in appearance
and customs. They had the heavy .
build and large features, with high cheek-bones, of the Soudanese, and,
above all, the lines of raised tattooing on their cheeks that is so typical of
rthe people about the Nile. I believe that it is .not unlikely that they
are a branch of the Dinkas, who, perhaps, being driven from the Sobat
by the Neurs, put the desert between themselves and their persecutors.
They seem to care principally for small red beads, of which they had
many already, some of them worked in gorgeous patterns on leather
plaques, with which the warriors adorned their massive head-dresses.
The most outre of our fashionable young men can never aspire to the
height of collar worn by some of the Magois. With a collar of beads,
which shoved their chin high up in the air, their locks done up in a
.great chignon, composed principally of clay covered with ostrich feathers,
they looked the very pink of gay deceivers.
Parallel lines of raised tattooing on the chest and abdomen, leopards’
No. YI. —December, 1900.] 2 t
MAGOIS YOUTH.