152 TRAVELS IN 
The queen had nothing to distinguish her from the other 
women, except that her cloak seemed to have had more pains 
bestowed upon it in the dressing, and had three rows behind 
of brass-buttons extending from the hood to the bottom of 
skirts, and so close that they touched each other. The rest 
of the women were contented with a few of these ornaments 
straggling over different parts of the cloak. This weighty 
covering seems never laid aside by the females in the hottest 
weather ; but they wear nothing whatsoever under it, except 
the little apron that the Hottentot women take such pains to 
decorate. The Kaffer ladies are not however less anxious to 
appear smart about the head. Their skin-caps were orna- 
mented with buttons, buckles, beads, or shells, according as 
fancy might suggest or their wardrobe could supply. 
Though the country between the Keiskamma and the resi- 
dence of the king was rugged, poor, and mountainous, it here 
began to assume a very different appearance. The knolls of 
grass were well covered, and the hanging woods on the steep 
sides of the high mountains to the northward were extremely 
beautiful. The village at ^vhich he now lived, was but a 
temporary residence. It was situated upon the Kooquanie, 
a small stream that fell into the Keiskamma, and consisted of 
about forty or fifty huts of the form of beehives. Tliat which 
seemed to be destined for the use of the queen stood at 
the head of the village; was somewhat larger than the rest, 
and finished in a neater manner: it was about ten feet in 
diameter, and eight feet high. These huts are first shaped by 
frames of wood, and afterwards daubed over with a kind of 
mortar composed of clay and the dung of cattle ; and, when 
