` OF DR. J. R. T. VOGEL. 15 
other Africans, and in this neighbourhood they have often 
very good features. They understand spinning and 
making cloth: they know how to work in iron, to manu- 
facture knives, sabres, nails, &c.: they cultivate also the 
fields with some degree of skill. It is sad, however, to 
think, that they have possessed the same aptness for these 
arts, probably from an almost inconceivable time, without 
making any improvement: they lack that spiritual energy 
which renders every acquisition a step to further advance- 
ment. We have a daily market on the shore; whither the 
inhabitants of a neighbouring village resort in great numbers, 
to sell or barter what they possess. Small looking-glasses, 
framed in paper, meet with very ready purchasers; and I 
shall never forget the joy which beamed in the eyes of 
many, when they first beheld their own faces in a mirror. The 
women, especially, cannot be satisfied with gazing on them- 
selves, smeared with the powder of a red wood and their 
short hair standing upright in little tufts, so that they 
appear more like horned devils than human beings. In 
general, however, they prefer what is useful to trifles, pro- 
vided the latter be not too dazzling and enticing; as, for 
instance, a bright red cap edged with gold. 
* We brought with us a quantity of articles of female 
dress, often ornamented absurdly enough, as gauze handker- 
chiefs, sashes, &c.; which they accept as presents with suffi- 
cient indifference; whereas they are very eager after large 
pocket handkerchiefs, which they wear round the loins. The 
men are all armed with bows and arrows. "They value their 
arrows very highly, which are strongly poisoned: one of 
them, however, lately sold me all his implements of war, 
viz., arrows, quiver and bow, a short wooden arm-plate, a 
knife and an iron ring, for 2000 cowries, about a dollar and a 
half, which is however not above half the original price. All 
these things are made convenient for use, and strong, but 
generally without much art. The way they string their bow, 
Which is about four feet long, is clever. In theright hand they 
hold a knife, with a hollow handle, through which they pass 
