CiiAP.VIL] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 51 



they have immured themselves. The elder of this 

 interesting young couple did not appear to be more 

 than twenty-two years of age. 



I have not hitherto referred to the dress and 

 appearance of the Bechuana tribes, of which the 

 remnants have been collected by the Missionaries. 

 Of the habiliments of the men little need be said, as 

 they have generally adopted a rude imitation of the 

 European costume. The females, however, almost 

 invariably retain the garb of their ancestors. The 

 appearance of these ladies is masculine, and far 

 from attractive. Fat and grease of all kinds form 

 their delight : their bodies and skin cloaks being 

 also plentifully anointed with sibilo, a grey iron-ore 

 sparkling like mica, procured from mines in the 

 neighbourhood, which are visited from all parts of 

 the country. Their naturally woolly hair is twisted 

 in small cords, and matted with this substance into 

 apparently metallic pendules, which being of equal 

 length, assume the appearance of a skull-cap or 

 inverted bowl of steel. Tobacco having lately 

 undergone considerable depreciation by the intro- 

 duction of the plant — beads are the medium through 

 which exchanges are usually effected amongst the 

 Bechuana. The more wealthy of their women are 

 adorned with a profusion of these, hung in cumbrous 

 coils round the waist and neck, along with ivory 

 tooth-picks and gourd snuff-boxes : but even the 

 indigent are not altogether without them. An apron 

 of leather, cut into thin strips, and clotted with an 

 accumulation of grease and filth, reaches to the ancles 



D2 



