the proceedings; it was a most energetic and ridiculous
scene to witness, as the blankets whirled round
in the air and the men shouted and yelled with
joy. When all was over, each man measured his
blanket with his neighbour, to see that he had not
been cheated, and, gaily chattering, they wended
BOY BEATING DRUM
their way to the village, with their blankets trailing
behind them. The novelty of possessing a blanket
was an intense joy to these savages. One tottering
old man was amongst our workmen, and seeing his
incapacity, I was about to discard him, but his
longing for a blanket was so piteous—‘to sleep in a
blanket once before he died ’—that he was allowed
to continue and do what he could to earn one.
Dancing is the one great dissipation of the Maka-
langa’s life; he will keep it up for hours without
tiring at their great beer-drinking feasts, at weddings
—nay, even at funerals. At these latter ceremonies
they will not allow a white man to be present, so
that what they do is still a mystery; but we heard
DRUM DECORATED WITH i BREAST PLAIN DRUM
AND FURROW ’ PATTERN
repeatedly the incident festivities after a death had
taken place—the shouting, the dancing, and the
hideous din of the ‘ tom-tom. One day a native
turned up at our camp with some curious carrot-like
roots in his hand. On enquiry as to what he was
going to do with them he replied that he was goinsr
p O O to a funeral, and that they chewed this root and spat