THE I<OOKING-GIvASS. 1 79 



Egyptian monuments, bringing contorted-horned cattle 

 into Egypt. 



All are remarkably fond of their cattle, and spend much 

 time in ornamenting and adorning them. Some are 

 branded all over with a hot knife, so as to cause a per- 

 manent discolouration of the hair, in lines like the bands 

 on the hide of a zebra. Pieces of skin two or three inches 

 long and broad are detached, and allowed to heal in a 

 dependent position around the head — a strange style of 

 ornament ; indeed, it is difficult to conceive in what their 

 notion of beauty consists. The women have somewhat 

 the same ideas with ourselves of what constitutes comeli- 

 ness. They came frequently and asked for the looking- 

 glass ; and the remarks they made — while I was engaged 

 in reading, and apparently not attending to them — on 

 first seeing themselves therein, were amusingly ridiculous. 

 V Is that me?" " What a big mouth I have ! " \\ My 

 ears are as big as pumpkin-leaves." " I have no chin at 

 all." Or, " I would have been pretty, but am spoiled by 

 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 nicknames accordingly. One man came 

 alone to have a quiet gaze at his own features once, when 

 he thought I was asleep : after twisting 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 

 instrument 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 carding 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 the}'' are stiff and dry. 

 Two broad belts of a differently-coloured skin are sewed 

 into them longitudinally, and sticks inserted to make them 



