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Acholi

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a negro people of the upper Nile valley, dwelling on the east bank of the Bahr-el-Jebel, about a hundred miles north of Albert Nyanza. They are akin to the Shilluks of the White Nile. They frequently decorate the temples or cheeks with wavy or zigzag scars, and also the thighs with scrolls; some pierce the ears. Their dwelling-places are circular huts with a high peak, furnished with a mud sleeping-platform, jars of grain and a sunk fireplace. The interior walls are daubed with mud and decorated with geometrical or conventional designs in red, white or grey. The Acholi are good hunters, using nets and spears, and keep goats, sheep and cattle. In war they use spears and long, narrow shields of giraffe or ox hide. Their dialect is closely allied to those of the Alur, Lango and Ja-Luo tribes, all four being practically pure Nilotic. Their religion is a vague fetishism. By early explorers the Acholi were called Shuli, a name now obsolete.