288 



" Both sexes wear strings of beads intermixed with bits 

 of aromatic wood, suspended round the neck, and bracelets 

 of beads, buttons, or cowrie shells round the wrists ; besides 

 which, the men have a number of thick ivory rings upon the 

 left arm. The loins of both are likewise girded with a string 

 of copper or iron beads of their own manufacture. Their 

 supernumerary buttons are disposed upon the back of the 

 mantle, with some degree of arrangement and taste; not 

 perhaps such as would meet the approbation of a Bond-Street 

 tailor; but in matters of this sort, until the standard shall be 

 finally fixed, every nation has a right to consider its own the 

 best. The head-ornaments of the men are as various as 

 they are fanciful. A tuft of white hair from the rump of the 

 Springhock, a string of nerite shells, a fillet of monkey's 

 skin, a plume of ostrich feathers, or the tail of a Caffre 

 Finch. 



" The offensive arms of the Caffres are the Assagay and the 

 Kiri. The Assagay is a light spear, consisting of a slender 

 shaft, five feet long, adapted to an iron head, in the fabrica- 

 tion of which the whole ingenuity of the Caffre is called into 

 play ; and it is really astonishing, that, with one stone for a 

 hammer, and another for an anvil, such neat workmanship 

 should be executed. They are very expert in the use of 

 this weapon, and can dart it with tolerable precision to the 

 distance of seventy or eighty yards. When thrown with 

 dexterity, the shaft vibrates in the air like the tail of a fish 

 when it moves rapidly through the water. The Kiri is a 

 sort of walking-stick, about three feet long, with a lai'ge 

 knob at the end. By a particular art in throwing it, they 

 can kill a hare, antelope, or other small animal, at thirty 

 yards' distance. Every Caffre carries in his hand a bundle, 

 consisting of five or six Assagays, a Kiri, and a long taper 

 stick, of hardwood, which serves to kindle their fire, and 

 decide their private quarrels. These latter are, by all 

 accounts, neither frequent nor sanguinary. Even when they 

 become public, and assume the importance of civil or of 

 international warfare, they are carried on with a gentleness 

 and moderation that might be imitated with advantage by 



