28 MEMOIR OF LE VAILLANT. 



mals, they lie in wait for them also, attack them as 

 soon as they appear, and kill them with their poi- 

 soned arrows, or with their assagays, a kind of long 

 lance, which is generally a feehle and not very dan- 

 gerous weapon in their hands. They pay little 

 attention to agriculture, and are more addicted to 

 pasturage and the rearing of sheep and oxen. 



Another tribe of Southern Africa mentioned by 

 M. Le Yaillant are the Gonaquas, which he thinks 

 are of a mixed breed between the Cafirs and the 

 ordinary Hottentots, Their dress resembles that of 

 the latter ; but as they are taller, they make their 

 mantles of the skins of calves instead of sheep. 

 Several of them wear, hanging from their necks, a 

 piece of ivory or very white sheep-bone, and this 

 contrast of hue produces a good effect and is very 

 becoming. When the weather is hot, the men lay 

 aside every part of their dress that is superfluous, 

 and retain only what they term their jackals, which 

 is a small girdle made of the skin of the animal so 

 called, tied round their middle. The women are 

 fonder of dress than the men, and employ greater 

 care in adorning their persons. They wear a kross 

 or mantle like the latter, but the apron which con- 

 ceals their sex is larger than that of the Hottentots. 

 Girls below the age of nine go entirely naked. 



The two hues for which they show the greatest 

 fondness are red and black. The former is com- 

 posed of a kind of ochrey earth, which they mix 

 and dilute with grease ; it has a strong resemblance 

 to brick-dust, or tiles reduced to powder. Their 



