THE MASARWAS AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 2ig 



duplicated prefix. I do not advance this explanation as anything 

 more than a probable one. Apart from it, I have no other to 

 offer. Amongst the Amandebele. they are called Amasile, which 

 is simply the Sindebele form of the Sechuana ]\Iasar\va, there 

 being no ;■ in the Sindebele language. 



\\'ith regard to the origin of the people themselves, most 

 authorities agree that they are a cross between the original 

 Bushmen and some Bantu tribe. I should not like to say that 

 the Bechuanas were the tribe in question. I do not see any 

 evidence of that. I am inclined to favour some tribe nearer the 

 West Coast. 



In personal appearance the Alasarwas are tali, about 5 feet 

 6 inches and over, and well formed ; quite as tall as the Bechuana, 

 amongst whom they live, if not taller in some cases. The!" 

 colour is very little lighter than the latter, and the body well 

 nourished. Some of the women are small, but all are plump 

 so far as I have seen, and there is a notable absence of the 

 wrinkled skin to be seen in most Bushmen. The typical Bush- 

 men are small, light yellow in colour, with scanty hair, whereas 

 the ^^lasarwas are large-boned, well formed, and have abundant 

 hair, just like the other Bantu tribes. The face is flat, and the 

 nostrils wide and prominent. The eyebrows are pretty well 

 marked, and there is one feature common to both men and 

 women, the retreating lower jaw. This is a Bushman charac- 

 teristic. Another striking characteristic is the hollow back in 

 both sexes, and steatopyga in the women. This is quite marked, 

 even in voung girls. The legs are thin, and well-developed 

 calves conspicuously absent amongst such specimens as I have 

 seen. On the whole, in personal appearance the Alasarwas have 

 inherited more of the Xegro than of the Bushman type. 



Their clothing consists of a moderate-sized piece of skin 

 roimd the loins. Sometimes even this is dispensed with, and a 

 small piece of skin threaded on a piece of sinew, and passed 

 between the legs and tied in front. Others wear mantles of 

 skin over the shoulders. Where they live in large villages of 

 the Bechuanas. they adopt to some extent European clothing, 

 though seldom wearing trousers, being usually satisfied with a 

 jacket, or preferably an overcoat. Both sexes wear ornaments 

 of various kinds, such as strings of .beads, berries, or small bones 

 round the neck, and pieces of bone, metal, or w'ood in the ears. 

 They are very fond of collecting tin-openers, such as are supplied 

 with sardine tins, and using them as earrings. I have seen a 

 man with as many as four of these in each ear. Xeither sex 

 wear any headgear, even in the hottest or most inclement weather. 

 Their occupations, when not employed as herds by their Bechuana 

 masters, are hunting and capturing game. At this they are 

 very expert, and use bows and poisoned arrows. The poison is 

 prepared from the juice of a certain bulb, mixed with snake 

 poison. It is reddish, not unlike coffee in colour, and of a Jelly- 

 like consistency. When smeared on the arrows, it i.« set in the 

 wind, and soon dries. There may be other ingredients than those 



