MODE OF PREPARING SKINS. 211 



these high cheek-bones." " See how my head shoots up in the 

 middle!" laughing vociferously all the time at their own jokes. 

 They readily perceive any defect in each other, and give nick- 

 names accordingly. One man came alone to have a quiet gaze at 

 his own features once, when he thought I was asleep ; after twist- 

 ino" his mouth about in various directions, he remarked to himself, 

 " People say I am ugly, and how very ugly I am indeed !" 



The Makololo use all the skins of their oxen for making either 

 mantles or shields. For the former, the hide is stretched out by 

 means of pegs, and dried. Ten or a dozen men then collect round 

 it with small adzes, which, when sharpened with an iron bodkin, 

 are capable of shaving off the substance of the skin on the fleshy 

 side until it is quite thin ; when sufficiently thin, a quantity of 

 brain is smeared over it, and some thick milk. Then an instru- 

 ment made of a number of iron spikes tied round a piece of wood, 

 so that the points only project beyond it, is applied to it in a card- 

 ing fashion, until the fibres of the bulk of it are quite loose. Milk 

 or butter is applied to it again, and it forms a garment nearly as 

 soft as cloth. 



The shields are made of hides partially dried in the sun, and 

 then beaten with hammers until they are stiff and dry. Two 

 broad belts of a differently-colored skin are sewed into them longi- 

 tudinally, and sticks inserted to make them rigid and not liable 

 to bend easily. The shield is a great protection in their way of 

 fighting with spears, but they also trust largely to their agility in 

 springing aside from the coming javelin. The shield assists when 

 so many spears are thrown that it is impossible not to receive 

 some of them. Their spears are light javelins ; and, judging from 

 what I have seen them do in elephant-hunting, I believe, when 

 they have room to make a run and discharge them with the aid 

 of the jerk of stopping, they can throw them between forty and 

 fifty yards. They give them an upward direction in the dis- 

 charge, so that they come down on the object with accelerated 

 force. I saw a man who in battle had received one in the shin ; 

 the excitement of the moment prevented his feeling any pain ; 

 but, when the battle was over, the blade was found to have split 

 the bone, and become so impacted in the cleft that no force could 

 extract it. It was necessary to take an axe and press the split 

 bone asunder before the weapon could be taken out. 



