XOSA ARTS AND CRAFTS. 44.^ 



cornered spear. i-ncaiUsa. reseniblinor the fluted rush or palmiet, 

 and named from it. 



The heads of these weapons were forged beautifully smooth, 

 gudisa. The cutting <i(\gt;, ukn-dla, was sharpened to an amazing 

 degree of keenness by whetting it, /o/a. upon a stone and then on 

 a hide. It was inserted, as we shall see presently, into a wooden 

 shaft. The part of the head so inserted was um-snka, and the 

 ])oint of junction, i-xokauia. 



The tools made of iron included the knife, axe and hatchet, 

 adze, pick or hoe. awl, bodkin or needle, etc. 



The knife, isi-tshetshc, was of triangular shape, tapering to 

 a point and double-edged. It was fixed in a short wooden handle, 

 and usually carried in a siieatii, isi-kota. 



The axe-head, i-ccnibc, was about 6 in. long with a curved 

 face about 2 in. broad and about ^4 in. thick, and a tang behind 

 for inserting into the handle. Tlie hatchet, isi-xcng.vc^ was 

 similar in shape but smaller. 



The adze, in-komho.zoiibc. used for hollowing out trunks 

 of trees into troughs, and farther north into boats or canoes, 

 differed from the axe in having a straighter edge, and in being 

 inserted into the handle at right angles to its length, instead of 

 in the line of its length. 



The pick or hoe. iir^-xobonya, was very similar to the adze, 

 but was inserted into the handle some way uj). It was imitated 

 from an older wooden implement, and was used for breaking up 

 ground, lima, rather than ior hoeing, hlaknla. for which a wooden 

 spade of quite different shape was used. 



They also made chisels, iu-tJabo, usually with flanged 

 edges, 'for cutting wood; awls, i-qampii, for boring, jiklfa or 

 jijija, and needles, or rather bodkins, isi-landa, for sewing with. 

 The needle was of various lengths, from 6 to 12 inches, and about 

 the thickness of a straw. It was eyeless, and pointed at one 

 end, which made a hole in the material to be sewn, into whicii 

 the thread was pushed with the fingers. It was used also for 

 boring ears, cumbusa, extracting thorns, bangiila, and even 

 extracting teeth by the painful process of prising them out. The 

 long thin assegai, ing-qanda, was used for making eyelets in a 

 milksack. The Kafirs could also make fishing-hooks, ■ama-qcru, 

 and provide them with barbs, i-nyembe. 



The worker in brass made the women's bracelets, i-zvatsha, 

 and arm-rings, i-kopolo, of which they wore a great number, 

 which often painfully lacerated the arm. They also made 

 girdles, u-qiuemesha, for the young braves. These were made of 

 small rings of brass, earlier, no doubt, of copper, which were 

 strung on fine thongs made of bushbuck skin. The rings were 

 hammered beautiifully round and smooth. A girdle might con- 

 sist of 300 or 400 of these rings, and a couple of stich girdles 

 were worth a cow. 



An important part of the woodworker's labour, iikii-basa, 

 was the preparation and insertion of the shafts of spears and 

 the handles of tools. 



