218 NATIVE DRESS. CHAP. VIII. 



waist a great number of strings are attached to hang all 

 round the person. These fringes are about six or eight 

 inches long. The matrons wear 

 in addition a skin cut like the 

 tails of the coatee formerly worn 

 by our dragoons. The younger 

 girls wear the waist-belt exhibited 

 in the woodcut, ornamented with 

 shells, and have the fringes only 

 waist-belt. in front. Marauding parties of 



Batoka, calling themselves Makololo, have for some time 

 had a wholesome dread of Sinamane's " long spears." 

 Before going to Tette our Batoka friend, Masakasa, was 

 one of a party that came to steal some of the young 

 women ; but Sinamane, to their utter astonishment, 

 attacked them so furiously that the survivors barely 

 escaped with their lives. Masakasa had to flee so fast 

 that he threw away his shield, his spear, and his clothes, 

 and returned home a wiser and a sadder man. 



Sinamane's people cultivate large quantities of tobacco, 

 which they manufacture into balls for the Makololo 

 market. Twenty balls, weighing about three-quarters of 

 a pound each, are sold for a hoe. The tobacco is planted 

 on low moist spots on the banks of the Zambesi ; and was 

 in flower at the time we were there, in October. Sina- 

 mane's people appear to have abundance of food, and are 

 all in good condition. He could sell us only two of his 

 canoes ; but lent us three more to carry us as far as 

 Moemba's, where he thought others might be purchased. 

 They were manned by his own canoe-men, who were to 

 bring them back. The river is about 250 yards wide, and 

 flows serenely between high banks towards the North-east. 

 Below Sinamane's the banks are often worn down fifty 

 feet, and composed of shingle and gravel of igneous rocks, 

 sometimes set in a ferruginous matrix. The bottom is all 



