THE GREAT DANCE. loi 
and white ox-hide shields, surmounted by a jackal's 
tail, such as are carried by the warriors. The wives 
held long slender wands upright in their hands. The 
men, when they dance, usually carry a carved stick, 
with which motions are made, whilst it is generally 
held upright. The girls carry very pretty brooms, 
which they likewise raise and move about to time ; 
but the girls' dances were yet to come. 
" The dress of the soldiers is very striking, and 
suggestive of savage warfare. Over the shoulders, 
and continued into a sort of hood, which either sur- 
mounts the back of the head, or hangs loose be- 
hind the neck, is a large fabric of jet-black ostrich 
feathers. Around the forehead is a circlet of tawny 
fur, and a single long steel-coloured crane's feather 
rises above, giving a most artistic finish to the pic- 
ture. Around the loins are a collection of monkey 
and cat skins, dangling in long strips, together with 
a number of tails, some of the latter nearly large 
enough for those of leopards, which hang in thick 
bunches nearly to the ground. Around each arm is 
a graceful, wavy tuft of white ox-tail hair, and some- 
times the same around the legs. Very little limbo 
is worn, unless a strip or two — usually of blue 
selampore or white calico, well worn and defaced 
— around the waist. The shield and assegais com- 
plete the picture.^ If all were uniform in appear- 
^ The woodcut on the succeeding page illustrates a variety of 
different assegais. The heads of these weapons are wrought by the 
natives themselves, and fastened to the shafts by strips of raw hide, 
which shrink in the drying, and become as hard as a band of iron. 
The length of tlic shaft is usually from tliree to four feet. 
