i84 TRAVELS IN 
mon to tlie men as well as to the women. 
Like the wre filers and pugi lifts of antiquity, 
they think it necelTary to preferve the pliability 
of their limbs. For this operation, they em- 
ploy the fat of fuch animals as they kill in the 
chace ; and if that fail them, tbey have recoiirfe 
to the oil which exudes from the nymphs of 
ants when they broil them for nourifhment, and 
which they collecl and preferve for the piir-^ 
pofe. Their bodies, when anointed with this 
oil, have a very ftrong fmellj but it is not dif- 
agreeablc. 
On the third day of my encampment near 
the horde, five men and tv^o women arrived 
from an excurfion, bringing v/ith them two live 
fheep. The fruits of their depredations had 
confifled of three of thefe animals ; but the 
third efcaped by the way and was loft. 
They w^ere driving the fheep before them, 
when, on approaching the kraal, they fuddenly 
perceived my camp. The fight of fo many 
ftrangers, of whom they had no knowledge, 
alarmed them. They inftantly abandoned 
their booty, and retired with precipitation ; 
but, feeing their companions in a ftate of fafety, 
which feemed to announce that we were on 
Q goo4 
