THE BAROTSE COUNTRY. 
557 
used, exclusively as snuff, and both men and women 
make great use of it in that shape. 
The people are more covered than any I had hitherto 
met with. It was rare to see either an adult male or 
female naked from the waist upwards. The men, as I 
mentioned in the previous chapter, wear skins fastened 
to a girdle, which hang behind and before, and reach 
as low as the knees. A fur mantle with a cape, in the 
style of Henry III. of Portugal, covers the shoulders 
and falls to about the middle of the leg. A broad 
leathern belt, independent of that to which the skins 
are fastened, completes the attire. The women wear a 
petticoat of skins, reaching in front to the knee, and 
behind to the calf of the leg. They also have a broad 
girdle about the waist, adorned with cowries. A small 
fur mantle, a great many beads round the neck, and 
several bangles on the wrists and ankles, form the usual 
costume of the country. It is no uncommon thing to 
see females substituting European stuffs for skins, and 
wearing cotton counterpanes for capotes ; and both 
males and females adopting, in lieu of the native 
costume, the dress of the European : but I do not deal 
here with such exceptions, they being simply the 
innovations which trade has brought among the people. 
It is necessary, however, to refer to them as betraying 
the manifest tendency of the people towards body¬ 
covering. Undoubtedly, before the invasion of the 
Macololos, the Luinas wore but little clothing. The 
Chucuhimbes, their neighbours to the east, go com¬ 
pletely naked, both males and females. On the west 
are the Ambuellas, whom the first Portuguese traders 
that ventured thither,* found also without clothing, 
and even now it cannot be said that they wear much. 
The costume of the Luinas, above described, is the 
same as that formerly worn by the Macololos, which 
induces me to believe that it was introduced by them. 
This inclination, which I have noted, to body-clothing 
is worthy the attention of the trading world, as it may 
be turned to account, both for the benefit of commerce 
* Silva Porto in 1849. 
