A KAFFER VILLAGE. 
KAFFERS ON A MARCH. 
THE KOODOO. 
N° 4. 
N° 5. 
N° 6. 
The regular huts of a Kaffer village are built in the form of a bee-hive ; composed 
of wattling plaistered over with a composition of clay and cow dung, six or seven 
feet in diameter, with a square opening for an entrance. That of the Chief is 
larger than the rest, and stands at the head of the village on an eminence, where 
at the bottom of the slope the kraals or folds for their cattle are generally collected 
together. When driven from their village by an enemy, or moving about in search 
of fresh pasture for their cattle, they form temporary huts, rudely constructed with 
twigs, and covered with reeds or long grass. These temporary dwellings they fre- 
quently make along the edge of a thicket, by intertwining the living branches so 
closely together as to afford them a shelter from the sun, though none against 
the rain. The men are chiefly employed in hunting, or in milking and tending 
their cattle, of which they are extremely fond, and render so very docile as to be 
enabled to direct their motions by whistling either with the mouth, or an instru- 
ment which they make for that purpose of bone. To improve on the work of nature, 
and render them more beautiful, they cut the ears, the skin of the cheeks, and 
dewlaps, of their favorite cattle of both sexes, and when young twist their horns into 
a variety of shapes. The women are occupied in making bags of skins, skin cloaks 
and articles for household use, the principal of which consists of baskets made of 
strong grass that grows in the neighbourhood of springs. These baskets are so 
closely worked as to be water tight and to hold their milk. 
The Kaffers who dwell upon the eastern coast of South Africa are a race of people 
very superior to what they.have usually been considered, both with regard to their 
physical and moral character. If taken in the mass, it may be questioned if any 
nation can produce so great a proportion of tall elegant figures as appear among 
the Kaffers. Though strong and active in a great degree, they eat very little animal 
food, but subsist chiefly on milk in a curdled state, and a few wild vegetables and 
roots. The shape of the head and the features of the countenance approach much 
nearer to inhabitants of the north than either the Hottentot or the Negro, and were 
it not for their colour, which is from black to bronze, even Europeans might pro- 
nounce them a very handsome race of men. Their weapons of war and for hunting 
are the Hassagai and the Kerie. The former is an iron spear fitted to a tapering 
shaft, which they hurl with effect to the distance of thirty or forty yards. In battle 
they usually break off the wooden shaft of the spear, and with the aid of a shield 
made of dried ox hides come to close quarters with the iron part only in their hand. 
The Kerie is nothing but a small stick with a round knob at the end, with which 
they frequently kill the pigmy antelope, hares, and the smaller animals. The men 
in summer go naked. Their usual ornaments consist of rings of ivory on the arm, 
a brush of hair attached to the head, and frequently a cow's tail tied to the knee : 
and when they go to war they bind on the head by a fillet of skin the two wings of 
the Numidian Crane. The women wear long cloaks of skin made soft and pliant 
with great pains, and gaily studded with metal buttons. The Kaffer Chiefs also 
wear cloaks made of the skins of animals, and generally prefer those of the Leopard 
and Tyger Cat. The children always go naked, and have no decorations except a 
tuft of hair from the Spring-Bok, with which their heads are frequently orna- 
mented. 
The Koodoo is the Hottentot name of the animal here represented, a name 
which Buffon has erroneously given to the Eland. Mr. Pennant has called it the 
Striped Antelope. The spiral horns of the male (for the female has none) of this 
noble species of Antelope, when full grown, are from three to four feet in length. 
It is generally seen with its head erect, a habit which it may probably have ac- 
quired, by its almost constant residence in thickets where they are accustomed to 
browse, being seldom seen in the open plains. In the well wooded country stretching 
between the Camtoos and the Sundays rivers, they are to be found in great abun- 
dance, and are not difficult to be shot by the patient Hottentot, who tracks them 
in the thickets, and lies in wait till they come within his reach ; when surprised 
they bound with astonishing velocity into cover, and once alarmed it is very dif- 
ficult to creep upon them a second time. They are seldom met with in larger herds 
than six or seven. The male is about seven feet in length and five feet in height, 
the female is of a less size. The sides and back are transversely marked with broad 
white stripes ; and two white stripes mark the face : on the neck is a black mane, 
and from the shoulders to the tail a crest or ridge of white hair. A crest of dark 
brown hair runs also from the chin to the chest. As the skeleton and horns of this 
animal are often found in the woods, it may be presumed that it falls a prey to the 
Lion, the Leopard, and the Hyena. The general character of the Antelope is that 
of timidity, but this species is perhaps the most timid of all the larger kind. 
♦ 
