MAKOU)I<0 WOMEN. 173 



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 enforcing 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 their 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, which, being made of the grain called holcus 

 sorghum, or " durasaifi," in a minute state of subdivision, 

 is very nutritious, and gives that plumpness of form 

 which is considered beautiful. They dislike being seen at 

 their potations by persons of the opposite sex. They cut 

 their woolly hair quite short, and delight in having the 

 whole person shining with butter. Their dress is a kilt 

 reaching to the knees ; its material is ox-hide, made as 

 soft as cloth. It is not ungraceful. A soft skin mantle 

 is thrown across the shoulders when the lady is unem- 

 ployed, but when engaged in any sort of labour she throws 

 this aside, and works in the kilt alone. The ornaments 

 most coveted are large brass anklets as thick as the little 

 finger, and armlets of both brass and ivory, the latter 

 often an inch broad. The rings are so heavy that the 

 ankles are often blistered by the weight pressing down ; 

 but it is the fashion, and is borne as magnanimously as 

 tight lacing and tight shoes among ourselves. Strings of 

 beads are hung around the neck, and the fashionable 

 colours being fight green and pink, a trader could get 

 almost anything he chose for beads of these colours. 



At our public religious services in the kotla, the Makololo 

 women always behaved with decorum from the first, 

 except at the conclusion of the prayer. When all knelt 

 down, many of those who had children, in following the 

 example of the rest, bent over their little ones ; the 

 children, in terror of being crushed to death, set up a 

 simultaneous yell, which so tickled the whole assembly 

 there was often a subdued titter, to be turned into a 

 hearty laugh as soon as they heard Amen. This was not 

 so difficult to overcome in them as similar peccadilloes 

 were in the case of the women farther south. I^ong after 



