they then fell on him and tore him limb from limb,
and commenced their detestable orgy. As one
watched them eat, one could imagine that it is not
so many generations since they emerged from a state
of cannibalism.
We found it a tough climb to the villages through
the luxuriant verdure of cactus-like euphorbia, india-
rubber tree, the castor-oil, and acacia with lovely red
flowers. At an elevation of five hundred feet above
our waggons were the mud huts of the people,
and up here every night they drive their cattle into
extraordinary rock stables for safety. Perched on
the rocks are countless circular granaries, constructed
of bright red mud and thatched with grass. One
would think that a good storm of wind would blow
them all away, so frail do they seem.
Eounding a corner of the hill we came across a
second village, nestling amongst stupendous boulders,
and ascending again a little higher we reached a
third by means of a natural tunnel in the rock,
fortified, despite its inaccessible position, with palisades.
The natives were somewhat shy of us, and fled to
rocky eyries from whence to contemplate us, seated
in rows in all sorts of uncomfortable angles, for all
the world like monkeys. They are utterly unaccustomed
to postures of comfort, reclining at nighttime
on a grass mat on the hard ground, with their
necks resting on a wooden pillow, curiously carved ;
they are accustomed to decorate their hair so fantastically
with tufts ornamentally arranged and tied up
with beads that they are afraid of destroying the
effect, and hence these pillows.
These pillows are many of them pretty objects,
and decorated with curious patterns, the favourite
one being the female breast, and resting on legs which
had evidently been evolved out of the human form.
They bear a close and curious resemblance to the
WOODEN PILLOW
wooden head-rests used by the Egyptians in their
tombs to support the head of the deceased, specimens
of which are. seen in the British Museum. They are
common all over Africa, and elsewhere amongst savage
tribes where special attention is .paid to the decoration
of the hair .
A Makalanga is by nature vain, and particular
about the appearance of his nudity; the ladies have