568 
BRACELETS. — COPPER-ORE. 
metal is said to be so abundant that a sufficiency for their constant 
consumption may be collected on the surface without the labor of 
mining.* 
These bracelets are perfectly pliable ; and the manner in which 
they are rendered so, and the neatness of the work, prove that those 
tribes have attained some skill in the working of metals. They may 
be considered as a ring of hair covered with copper wire. This wire 
is of their own manufacture : the hair employed, is taken from the 
tails of the kokun, of the giraffe, or of other animals affording thick 
and long hairs. The four lower figures of the engraving in the pre- 
ceding page, represent, of their proper thickness, a part of four 
different bracelets ; for the purpose of showing, not only their 
structure, but their different varieties. That on the right, is the 
plainest and most common sort : the two intermediate bracelets are 
made in the same manner, but with the addition of small rings, (such 
as are represented separately,) fixed on at intervals : the one on the 
left is the least common, as it evidently cost more trouble in making, 
being formed entirely of such rings fastened on separately. These 
rings are in fact but short bits of copper bent into that form, and the 
ends skilfully hammered together : from which it may be concluded 
that they are unacquainted with the art of soldering ; nor did I ever 
see among the natives any example of this art. These bracelets are 
so favorite an ornament that the wrist is frequently covered with 
them. The same, but larger, are sometimes worn above the elbow ; 
and by some they are worn under the knee. 
Beads, which they call sikhdka, are, it is scarcely necessary to 
repeat, worn in profusion by both sexes, in the manner either of 
* To the mineralogist it may be interesting to remark that the Bamakwiin and 
Morutzi countries, and the Koperbergen in Little Namaqua-land, are the only places in 
the extratropical part of Southern Africa, where copper has, as yet, been found, although its 
existence in other places, is not improbable. It is said, perhaps with some exaggeration, to 
be so abundant about the Koperbergen (Copper-mountains), that it lies on the surface of the 
earth in the form of loose lumps of ore ; and judging from a specimen in my possession, 
this ore appears to be sufficiently rich in metal to deserve more attention than it has 
hitherto received. The subject is, at least, worth some investigation. 
