Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/221

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First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom.
173

with an ornament made from the tail of a striped gnu, and at the sides with bunches of feathers; the tout ensemble is not unlike that of a gurgoyle. Attached to the head-piece, and covering the shoulders, is a long, tight jacket of netted bast, with close-fitting sleeves. Gloves and stockings of the same material are likewise worn. The performer personating a woman wears a woollen skirt, reaching from the waist to the ankles, over which is the skin of an animal hanging down before and behind. The only distinction between the male and female mask is that the ornament on the male is more elaborate, and that a wisp of straw is twisted round the neck of the female. A steel girdle is worn round the waist, to the back of which a number of small bells is attached, keeping up a tinkling upon the slightest movement. The dance is repeated in public almost every fortnight. It attracts a large number of spectators at every performance, but children are not allowed to be present.

On the 27th I saw some people of the Alumba tribe, who had their hair dressed in a very peculiar fashion. Over the scalp it was divided into four rows of tufts, nearly two and a half inches long, which were so thickly plastered over with a mixture of grease and manganese that the mass of the hair was completely embedded, and nothing left to appear but the ends of the tufts. Some of the Marutse wore pangolin scales round their necks, or pieces of a kind of tortoiseshell, with which they are skilful in stanching blood. I was also shown a piece of wood, which is a remedy for whooping-cough, being sucked by children with good effect.

Sepopo made repeated visits to us, always accom-