56 



MATABELE LAND. 



bush velt, and then through an open undulating 

 country covered with yellow grass ; a few trees and 

 detached kopjes in the distance. Passed several 

 kraals, and went through mealie stubble-fields, 

 fenced from the waggon-track 

 by branches rudely stuck in the 

 ground. A crowd of Kaffirs, 

 making a fearful noise, appear- 

 ed, and accompanied the wag- 

 gon to where we were going 

 to outspan, so we went on a 

 little farther past the kraal. 

 There was a perfect Babel. A 

 few men came after us when we 

 had halted — swarthy fellows 

 with splendid teeth. One had 

 a fine leopard-skin he was 

 anxious to sell ; others a wood- 

 en dish, beans, Kaffir corn, 

 tobacco, and beer. The men's 

 head-dresses were various and 

 becoming. One man we passed 

 had on a skull-cap of spotted 

 tiger-cat skin, with feathers 

 sticking out behind like eagles' 

 or paauws'. Others wore round 

 masses of feathers (one was of 

 guinea-fowls') nearly as big as their heads, and one 

 had a jackal's tail sticking straight up over his fore- 

 head. They were not at all an unpleasant-looking 

 or unfriendly set, though noisy and forward. 



FEATHER HEAD-DRESS. 



