LANGUAGE OF COLOURS AMONGST THE ZULUS. 161 



would be similarly threaded. The powder was pr('i)ared 

 from various scented plants, which were dried and pulverised, 

 and kneaded into balls. 



The single brass ball (in don do) is no longer seen; ])ut 

 the circlet of scented balls (amaka) and tlie necklet of 

 little sticks (ubande) of the scented umtomboti tree are 



still in use. 



(3) For adorning the arms and legs the young men used 



the bushy ends of cattle tails (amatshoba), which were 

 fastened above the elbows and below the knees. As in 

 the case of the ostrich feathers, the various regiments were 

 distinguished by the colour of tlie tails — white, black, broAvn, 

 etc. Boys and girls satisfied themselves with grass wristlets 

 and anklets, but princesses were obliged to wear heavy brass 

 rings around the wrists and ankles (umnaka or ubedu), 

 similar to those Avorn as necklets, only they were simple rings 

 without spiral turns. 



(4) Lastly, for covering and adorning the body grass belts 

 (izifociya) were used, besides strips of skin of bucks or 

 domestic animals. 



Married women used formerly, as at the present time, the 

 short petticoat (isidwaba) of goat- or ox-skin. 



Men wore the loin-dress (umutsha), consisting of bushy 

 tails in front (isinene) and a square or oblong piece of ox- 

 or buck-skin behind (ibetshu). In place of the bushy tails 

 strips of buck-skin were often used. 



Grrown-up girls clothed themselves with the ubendhle, 

 which was a fringed loin-covering encircling the body. It was 

 made from the veld plant G a z a n i a 1 o n g i s c a p a . 



Witch-doctors were distinguished by their iminrpvambi, 

 which were strips of skin worn over the shoulders, and 

 fastened together at the middle, before and behind, something 

 like a pair of braces. 



For the great umko si, the Zulu king's annual festival, the 

 wari-iors wore the state dress, consisting of three girdles or 

 kilts of ox-tails. One was worn low down over the buttocks, 

 another above the lii])s, and the third over the sjioulders. In 



