SOUTHERN AFRICA. 143 



of hills, and travelled nearly south-east^ over a ruo-o-ed 

 countiy^ strewed with hug-e loose masses of stone^ and 

 thickly covered with low bush. To the rig-ht, extensive 

 stone walls marked the site of a once flourishing- Bamaliti 

 town^ now destroyed. At noon we unj'oked in a well- 

 watered valley^ covered with turf and abundantly cultiva- 

 ted. Here 'Unchobej the captain of an adjacent Matabili 

 kraal paid us the compliment of climbing* into the wag-g'on^ 

 and of squatting- himself without ceremony upon my bed^ 

 inviting' his g-reasy consort to do the same. The stench 

 of this Avorthy couple was quite overpowering*^ but he was 

 evidently considered by his countrymen as a person of 

 consequence^ being* loaded with a profusion of beads and 

 ornaments, amongst which we remarked a necklace com- 

 posed of Spanish dollars, and a medal which had been 

 struck in Eng-land in honour of the abolition of slaver}^ 

 His hnir, contrary to the custom of the Matabili, was 

 matted with grease and sihilo, and his consort also ^^•as 

 decorated with beads of various colours, to the amount of 

 at least thirty pounds weig'ht. In her own person this 

 lady possessed a concentration of ugliness, which would 

 have more than satisfied a score of ordinary females ; and 

 it might almost be asserted -without fear of contradiction, 

 that a being- of more repulsive exterior wexeY disgraced the 

 fair form of humanity. A crowd of women and girls 

 assembled round the waggon, clamorous for snuff and to- 

 bacco, and afforded us much amusement by their insatiable 

 curiosity and good humour. The looking-.glass, that never- 

 failing source of surprise and delight to uncivilized beings, 

 produced more than its usual effect upon them. Forming 

 a group of merry faces at the end of the waggon, and 

 chattering to each other, they gazed incessantly at their 

 reflected images, trying, by pressing their hands behind 

 the mirror, to discover the cause of such a mngical effect ; 



