TWO t)K KTN'd l'A\UA S l)ANr:lNG (ilRL^ gg
d.il.l. ivheri sho „ibpis the >l.ort .till worn by tltt older women. The girl, repre.et.ted in the Plate i.fford ordinary
example, of the Zulu women before marriage: .trot.- and athletic, and frei,uently a, majcuiine in their appearance
as the young men, tiiey employ themselve. iu working in the (ield, hoeing the maine plantations, earryhig wood and
thatch for the kraal, and bearing jar. and basket, of beer and corn on their hcaik from one spot to another.
It i. no unmual .ight for tlie traveller on approaching one of tlie king's larger kraal, to see a strmg of these virgin.,
ail bearing pieturestiue baskets and vessels tilled with provision, for the harem, pui^uing the narrow footpaths over
Mil and dale, and following one another hke a file of sohliers. At other times, one meet, a hue of women and girls
carrying huge sheaves of thatcli-reed. on their heads, ah singing, .and keeping step to their wild, ,et monotonous
A married woman v\-ithont children is termed "umfaKi," and a woman having a family, "enena." After a girl is betrothed,
ami previouily to her marriage, the britlegroom-elect places a feather in his brad, and a. .oon as the" bride pereeivci
it, .he eomes dancing up with her maiilens, and approaches so near a. to pluck out the feather! a speech i, delivered
in praise of the girl by one of her relations, saying that tlie bridegroom's kraal is a place of gm. , but the bride will
make it a garden of maize," and using .imilar reference, to her agricultural worth, the harilest worker, in the field
being always considered a. the be.t wives. After the spcech in favour of the bride, another is delivered prai.hig tinprowe..
and eiploit-s of the young man about to become her hu.hand. The bride then conceals herself amongst the
other gh-ls of the village, and a grand thmee, with beer-drinking and feasting for three days, conclude! the m'arriage
cercmony.