186- MAKOLOLO WOMEN. Chap. IX. 



Batoka, and Banyeti, tlie Makololo have a sickly hue. They are 

 of a light-brownish yellow colour, while the tribes referred to are 

 very dark, with a slight tinge of olive. The whole of the coloured 

 tribes consider that beauty and fairness are associated, and women 

 long for children of light colour so much, that they sometimes 

 chew the bark of a certain tree in hopes of producing that effect. 

 To my eye the dark colour is much more agreeable than the 

 tawny hue of the half-caste, which that of the Makololo ladies 

 closely resembles. The women generally escaped the fever, but 

 they are less fruitful than formerly, and, to their complaint of 

 being undervalued on account of the disproportion of the sexes, 

 they now add their regrets at the want of children, of whom they 

 are all excessively fond. 



The Makololo women work but little. Indeed the families of 

 that nation are spread over the country, one or two only in each 

 village, as the lords of the land. They all have lordship over 

 great numbers of subjected tribes, who pass by the general name 

 Makalaka, and who are forced to render certain services, and to 

 aid in tilling the soil ; but each has his own land under cultivation, 

 and otherwise lives nearly independent. They are proud to be 

 called Makololo, but the other term is often used in reproach, as 

 betokening inferiority. Tins species of servitude may be termed 

 serfdom, as it has to be rendered in consequence of subjection by 

 force of arms, but it is necessarily very mild. It is so easy for 

 any one who is unkindly treated to make his escape to other 

 tribes, that the Makololo are compelled to treat them, to a great 

 extent, rather as children than slaves. Some masters, who fail 

 from defect of temper or disposition to secure the affections of the 

 conquered people, frequently find themselves left without a single 

 servant, in consequence of the absence and impossibility of en- 

 forcing a fugitive slave law, and the readiness with which those 

 who are themselves subjected assist the fugitives across the rivers 

 in canoes. The Makololo ladies are liberal in then presents of 

 milk and other food, and seldom require to labour, except in the 

 way of beautifying their own huts and court-yards. They drink 

 large quantities of boyaloa, or o-alo, the buza of the Arabs, 

 winch, being made of the grain called holcus sorghum, or " dura- 

 saifi," in a minute state of subdivision, is very nutritious, and 

 gives that plumpness of form which is considered beautiful. They 



