452 DRESS EUROPEAN CUSTOMS RIDICULED. 



and on inquiring how lie had become possessed of them, he 

 replied, " Why, Lecholetebe has just asked the same ques- 

 tion. They were stolen from the chief by his own uncle 

 this very morning, who sold them to me as his individual 

 property not above half an hour ago." 



The attire of the Bechuanas is scanty enough. Those, 

 however, who have had much intercourse with Europeans be- 

 gin to adopt their mode of dress ; but the women, contrary 

 to custom, are very tenacious of their peculiar toilet, appar- 

 ently preferring the garb of mother Eve. The appearance 

 of the ladies is masculine, and far from prepossessing. Their 

 figures are usually short, stout, and clumsy, which is still 

 farther increased by the vast numbers of beads worn by the 

 more wealthy, which hang in cumbrous coils round the waist 

 and neck. Theu' wrists, arms, and ankles, moreover, are 

 encircled by rings of copper, iron, and brass, of various forms 

 and sizes. They delight in finery, and besides the decora- 

 tion of their own persons, they profusely ornament their skin, 

 shirts, and cloaks, the whole being bedaubed with masses 

 of fat and red ochre. " Their naturally woolly hair is twist- 

 ed in small cords, and matted with the above substances 

 into apparently metallic pendules, which, being of equal 

 length, assume the appearance of a skull-cap or inverted bowl 

 of steel." 



Notwithstanding the Bechuanas acknowledge us to be a 

 superior race to themselves, they have no hesitation to pro- 

 nounce many of our habits and customs both clumsy and 

 troublesome. They laugh at us for putting our legs and 

 arms into bags, and using buttons for the purpose of fasten- 

 ing bandages round our bodies, instead of suspending them as 

 ornaments from the neck or hair of the head. Once initiated 

 in the use of these things, however, they are but too glad to 

 benefit by them. To wash the body instead of lubricating 

 it with grease and red ochre seems to them a disgusting cus- 

 tom, and cleanliness about one's food, house, bedding, &c., 

 often creates their mirth and ridicule. 



