592 
SKINS USED FOR MAKING CLOAKS. — THE KAKIKAAN. 
the strongest ; but that of the kokoong, the kudu, the gemsbok, and of 
other antelopes, as well as of the domestic goat, are frequently used. 
In those fur koboes, called kobo e kosi, made of the skins of small 
animals, of which from sixty to eighty are required for a single cloak, 
the row which forms the upper edge, has the skin of the head and 
muzzle left on for ornament, and the lower edge shaped in scallops 
and strengthened on the inner side with a neat border of thin leather. 
The animals, the skins of which were most usually employed for 
making these fur-cloaks, were four species of the weasel-tribe, which 
the natives call, inghe, (ing-hay) kotokwi, khdliii, and nakeeri : of these, 
the first is the most common, and the last, which resembles the pole- 
cat, the least numerous. 
The skin of a small animal of the cat-tribe, with a spotted fur, 
was frequently used for this purpose : it was named kakikdan, and 
appeared to be an undescribed species. * In size it is not larger than 
the domestic cat, as the skins measured from the point of the nose 
to the insertion of the tail, not more than from sixteen to eighteen 
inches. The general color of this animal is tawny, or that of the 
' light brown-ochre ' of painters ; but fainter on the under parts of 
the body. It is entirely covered with black spots, rather long than 
round ; neither annulated nor ocellated. A few of the spots on the 
back of the neck are sometimes elongated into stripes ; while those 
on the fore part of the shoulders join and form very black transverse 
stripes or irregular bands, of which several surround both the fore 
and the hind legs. In some older individuals, the upper spots 
seemed faded nearly to a brown. All these marks on the lower part 
of the body are extremely black ; and the under parts of the feet are 
the same. The tail is of the same color as the back, and confusedly 
spotted, at least to four inches from its base; but it was in no part annu- 
lated : its length cannot be stated with certainty, as, in ail the skins, not 
less than fourteen, which I examined, a part of it had been cut off, 
* Felts nigripes, B. Fulva. Tota nigro-maculata. Maculae simplices magis elongatae 
quam rotundatae ; quaedam in cervice virgat^. Femora omnia, et humeri, fasciis irregu- 
laribus atris transverse notata. Cauda dorso concolor, indistincte maculata. Auriculae 
ovatae obtusae unicolore fuscae, pilis brevissimis adpressis ; margine anteriore pilis praelongis 
albis praedito. Pili interscapulares reliquis plerumque longiores. Magnitude F, Cati. 
