ACHOLI  , 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 has 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 .