Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1881 — How the Kroumirs Live. [ARTICLE]

How the Kroumirs Live.

Recent events have given an interest in these people, who dwell In an almost unknown country. The dwellings of the Kroumir chiefs are somewhat superior to the other inhabitants’, but even the chiefe share their homes with the mules, the cows arid the goats, The dwelling consists of but one room, divided into two unequal compartments by a roughly made partition about a metrehigh. On one side of this wall the fondly live; on the other the eattle. At the entrance . to each village or group of mud huts there is a soft of public building ' called the “ Djemaa,” or meeting pace, and it is here that the people assemble at in-

tervals to discuss matters of general 1 nterest. The men wear . a loose! vfltting woolerror cotton shirt, and over it one or two burnous, according to the season. Their head-gear is a kind of skull-cap, knitted or of red felt. The arms, legs and the neck are left bare, but the feet are protected by a piece of leather-' attached to the 'foot by a number of intertwining strings. The dress of the young woman is described as extremely graceful. A large piece of woolen stuff, folded in two, is attaeh-

ed to the shoulder with a metal | brooch, and reaches just below the I knees. A bright-hued girdle encirI dee the waist, and their toilet Is completed by a gaudy handkerchief wound round the head. With regard lto morals the laws are strict. No 1 man is allowed to have more than one wife, or to live with a woman unless the union has been sanction-

ed by marriage ceremonies. I Women, however, are bought and sold like cattle, and a widow can be appropriated by. a male relative of her deceased husband without any payment being exacted for her. /The usual diet of the tribe consists of “koua kousson,” a native dish, milk in abundance, and fruits, the aged I alone eat wheat or meat. The Kround ra entertain scant respect for the authority of the bey, but regard with reverence AMallah-bep-Djemal, their patron ; it is this marabout or priest who, they believe, protects their territory, and to whom they look for guidance.— Revue de Geo graphic.