SURROUNDED BY A PARTY OF CAFFERS. 243 



shoulders, each person being more or less deco- 

 rated with ornaments according to his means. The 

 females wore a small apron round their loins, 

 fancifully adorned with various-coloured beads; a 

 prepared ox-hide reached from their waist to their 

 ankles, while their kaross consisted of a black bul- 

 lock's hide, rendered supple by a peculiar process 

 of tanning, and descended like a cloak from their 

 shoulders, being decorated also down the centre with 

 three regular rows of small round yellow buttons. 

 The caps of the more wealthy, which were made 

 from the skin of the little blauw-bok, as before 

 described, and covered with a profusion of the 

 choicest beads, formed by far the most important 

 part of the dress of the more fashionable Caffer 

 ladies, and were by no means inelegant. 



After having paid our respects to the bride, we 

 proceeded to the waggon, where we were followed 

 by the whole crowd, which pressed so closely upon 

 us, that our clothes received a share of the ochre with 

 which the Caffers were bedaubed. They now became 

 so troublesome from their numbers and eagerness to 

 obtain the little articles we were distributing, that 

 we were glad to escape their importunities ; and 

 ordering the driver to proceed, we forced our way 

 through the assemblage and departed. Several of 

 the men still followed, and kept up with us for 

 some distance on their return home, as we supposed, 

 from the festivity; but as evening approached they 



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