SOCIETY OP THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 37 



a handle five feet in height, and is worked by two women ; water 

 utensils, which, if clay is obtainable, are made of earthenware, being 

 moulded to all sizes and burnt in the fire, but in the absence of clay 

 are made from the bark of a tree, the bark being stripped and curved 

 while wet, and held in position by pegs ; gourds, which are made from 

 pumpkins ; cooking-pots made of clay ; spoons of all sizes, made of 

 wood ; drinking-cups, carved out of wood, and often highly orna- 

 mented (these, however, are being superseded by imported enamel 

 mugs) ; wooden bowls of various sizes and shapes, which take the 

 place of plates, and are sometimes made with two or even three com- 

 partments to prevent the different kinds of food from mixing. Their 

 tools are partly of native manufacture, such as the forge, and partly 

 European. The carving and what we may call poker-work are done 

 with great rapidity and exactness, but apparently the natives have no 

 idea of going off a beaten track, as directly I asked a man I was 

 watching to make some lettering on a bowl which I had bought, he 

 " lost his head ". Unfortunately I h.id asked the chief carver's assistant 

 to do this, and the question immediately arose as to whether by doing 

 so I was not giving the assistant knowledge which his chief did not 

 possess. The propriety of my having done so was keenly discussed 

 and evidently aroused a certain amount of jealousy. They make 

 wooden pillows carved out of Umkuhla wood. It sometimes happens 

 that a particularly ingenious man will cut out of one piece of wood a 

 walking stick, on the staff of which is a pillow for himself and one for 

 his wife, and at the extremity a drinking cup. A good example of this 

 is the case of a native who cut out an artificial limb for himself, and 

 returned to the mines to become a policeman in one of the compounds. 

 They make baskets of very fine work, sometimes so closely woven that 

 they are watertight, and varying in size from that of a cigarette case 

 to that of one into which a man could easily get. They have also conical 

 baskets which the women carry on their heads, and small hand-bags 

 beautifully decorated with beads, for carrying food, etc. 



Their agricultural instruments are the usual Kaffir hoe and a 

 small axe for cutting wood. 



