36 KAFFIR ORNAMENTS. RELIGION. 



The white beads and teeth contrast strongly with the dark 

 skins of these people, and produce a very good effect. 

 Round their wrists they wear rings of brass, which are 

 welded firmly on, and extend sometimes nearly to the 

 elbows ; higher up the arm rings of ivory are worn, which 

 are punched out from the tusks of elephants. Both the 

 teeth necklaces and the ivory rings are much valued, and 

 cannot readily be purchased. I possess a specimen of 

 both ornaments ; the former I with great difficulty ob- 

 tained for eight shillings, a sum nearly equal in value to 

 a cow. 



There appears to be great doubt, even amongst the 

 best-informed, as to a Kaffir's religion ; that the Kaffirs 

 have a belief in the future state, there is, however, no 

 doubt ; but in what way they really look on this state it is 

 difficult to determine. They believe in apparitions and 

 the return of the spirits of their departed friends after 

 death. Shulanga is the term which they use to express 

 this idea, and a Kaffir attributes most of his successes 

 and escapes to the thoughtful watchfulness of a friendly 

 spirit. They are believers in witchcraft to an unlimited 

 extent; but what they understand by the term is very 

 difficult to say. I once obtained the character of a 

 wizard by mixing a seidlitz-powder, and drinking it off 

 during effervescence, for the spectators took for granted 

 that the water was boiling. The rain-makers have enor- 

 mous control over the tribes at times ; but acquaintance 

 with the white man lessens the faith in these wizards. 



The Hottentots are certainly the ugliest race on earth, 

 and the first view of them causes a feeling of almost 



