Nearly all the tribes bestowed great pains on the arrangement of their hair. Some of them combed it out regularly; others, the Mankoë for instance, whose hair was extra long, kept it powdered in a way that helped to set off their well-formed figures to advantage, and many plaited it into little tufts containing three or four tresses each; but I did not observe that any of them covered it with manganese, like the Bechuanas, or twisted it into a coronetted tier like the Zulus.
A good deal of ingenuity is exhibited in making playthings of clay for the young. Very often these take the shape of kishi dancers in various attitudes, or of hunters, or of animals, particularly those with horns, or of elephants and hippopotamuses. The clay selected for the purpose is dark in colour, and the puppets vary from two to five inches in length. Toys are likewise made of wood, especially by the Mabundas, spoons and sticks ornamented with figures being great favourites with the children.
Mats form another item in the native industry, and are used for different purposes, according to the material of which they are made—it may be of rushes, grass, straw, or reeds. They are always neatly finished off, and frequently have darker bands or borders of some sort woven into the pattern; in colour they are usually a bright yellow, and the ornamental part black or red.
Bolsters are carved of wood, and however primitive they might be in design, I saw many of which the details were very elaborate in execution. The stools in common use are simply short round blocks of wood, about ten or twelve inches high, and five or six inches broad, slightly curved at the top;
