396 A JOURNEY IN 
fashionable crops of the present day, to which is frequently 
appended the tail of a hare, or a distended bladder of this or 
some other sniall animal ; or the wings of the Numidian crane 
are fixed erect on each side of the head. A triangular plate of 
copper is almost invariably suspended from, one ear, and the 
teeth and the claws of lions and' leopards are worn as necklaces* 
To these spoils of the chase the men add rings of ivoiy, cut from 
the elephant's tusk, round the upper part of the arm; and the 
women use thongs of leather, sometimes plain and sometimes 
decorated with beads and bits of copper, round the legs and 
arras. Every man had a knife slung about the neck by a leather 
thong, and fitted into a scabbard. The blade is generally about 
six inches long, an inch broad, rounded at the end, and brought 
to an edge on each side ; the handle sometimes of woodj and 
sometimes of ivor}'^ ; in the latter case, it is usually carv^ed into 
the shape of the elephant's proboscis. The party had with 
them a quantity of common kni^'es intended for barter, but 
the BoosJmanas held them very cheap, observing that their 
own were at least twice as good, because they were made to 
cut with two edges, whereas those of the white people only 
cut Vv ith one. The knife, in fact, is so useful an instrument to 
such as live by the chase and on roots, that it may almost be 
considered as an article of the first necessity, and is valued 
accordingly. A Booshuana is accounted wealthy according to 
the number of cattle, knives and beads he may possess : these 
are the money and the currency of Leetakoo. 
The Booshuana women not only performed the task of 
hoeing the ground, reaping the grain, clearing it from the 
