202 HUSBANDRY IVORY BEADS. 



time of the year. Both sexes assist in tilhng the ground, 

 which, near the surface, consists of a flinty sand-soil. A 

 short distance beneath blue clay appears. The land must 

 be rich and fertile, as manure is seldom made use of. The 

 only farm-implement we saw in use among the Ovambo was 

 a kind of hoe of very rude workmanship. Instead of culti- 

 vating a whole piece of ground, as with us, they simply dig 

 a hole here and there, in which they deposit a handfuU of corn. 

 When a little above ground, those seedlings which are too 

 thick are transplanted. The process of reaping, cleaning, 

 and grinding falls almost exclusively on the women. The 

 grain is reduced to flour by means of a stout pole in a kind 

 of mortar or hollow wooden tube. While the females are 

 thus employed, some of the men tend to the herding of the 

 cattle, and the rest make trading excursions to the neigh- 

 boring tribes. 



The chief article of export is ivory, which they procure 

 from elephants caught in pitfalls. In exchange for this they 

 obtain beads, iron, copper, shells, cowries, &c. ; and such ar- 

 ticles as they do not consume themselves they sell to tho 

 Damaras. As far as we could learn, they make four expedi- 

 tions annually into Damara-land, two by the way of Okama- 

 buti, and two by that of Omaruru. The return for these sev- 

 eral journeys, on an average, would seem to be about eight 

 hundred head of cattle. vSince we were in the country, how- 

 ever, it is probable that great changes may have taken place. 



Next to their cattle they prize beads ; but, though they 

 never refuse whatever is offered to them, there are some sorts 

 that they more especially value, and it is of very great im- 

 portance to the traveler and the trader to be aware of this, 

 as, in reality, beads constitute his only money or means of 

 exchange. Thus, throughout Ondonga, large red (oval or 

 cylindrically-shaped), large bluish white, small dark indigo, 

 small black (spotted with red), and red, in general, are more 

 particularly in request. 



