Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa (V. 2)

Seitenzahl:

498

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716 g

Erschienen bei:

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Kurzbeschreibung

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: WOMEN.?PROMENADE. 59 in the afternoon; and even during the rest of the day those scenes of industry which in the varied panorama of Kano meet the eye are here sought for in vain. Instead of those numerous dyeing- yards or marina, full of life and bustle, though certainly also productive of much filth and foul odors, which spread over the town of Kano, there is only a single and a very poor marina in Ku- kawa; no beating of tobes is heard, nor the sound of any other handicraft. There is a great difference of character between these two towns; and, as I have said above, the Bornu people are by temperament far more phlegmatic than those of Kano. The women in general are much more ugly, with square, short figures, large heads, and broad noses with immense nostrils, disfigured still more by the enormity of a red bead or coral worn in the nostril. Nevertheless, they are certainly quite as coquettish, and, as far as I had occasion to observe, at least as wanton also as the more cheerful and sprightly Hausa women. I have never seen a Hausa woman strolling about the streets with her gown trailing after her on the ground, the fashion of the women of Kukawa, and wearing on her shoulders some Manchester print of a showy pattern, keeping the ends of it in her hands, while she throws her arms about in a coquettish manner. In a word, their dress, as well as their demeanor, is far more decent and agreeable. The best part in the dress or ornaments of the Bornu women is the silver ornament (the fallafalle kelabe") which they wear on the back of the head, and which in taller figures, when the hair is plaited in the form of a helmet, is very becoming; but it is not every woman who can afford such an ornament, and many a one sacrifices her better interests for this decoration. The most anima...

Portrait

Heinrich Barth wurde 1821 als Sohn eines Kaufmanns in Hamburg geboren. Nach der Schule trat er aber nicht in die Firma seines Vaters ein, sondern studierte in Berlin Altertumskunde und Philologie. Erste Reisen führten ihn nach Spanien, Ägypten, Palästina, Syrien und Kleinasien. 1849 begann Barths Afrikareise als englische Afrikaexpedition, an der er teilnahm und von der er erst 1855 nach Europa zurückkehrte. In fünf umfangreichen Bänden berichtete er von seiner Reise, der große Erfolg blieb ihm aber verwehrt. Barth lebte noch einige Jahre in Berlin und lehrte als Dozent an der dortigen Universität. 1865 starb er - weitgehend vergessen - im Alter von nur 44 Jahren.

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Mehr von:  Heinrich Barth, Cambridge Scholars Publishing