Near it are two or three other similar masses, but much inferior in
size.
The Sensavdn is one of the most celebrated places of the Trans-
gariepine; being the only spot where the sibilo * (sibeelo) is found.
Hither all the surrounding nations repair for a supply of that ornamental
and, in their eyes, valuable substance. It constitutes in some
degree an article of barter with the more distant tribes, and even
among themselves; so that the use of it extends over at least five
degrees of latitude, or among every tribe which I have visited.
This sibilo is a shining, powdery iron-ore of a steel-grey or
blueish lustre, and soft and greasy to the touch, its particles adhering
to the hands or clothes, and staining them of a dark-red or
ferrugineous color. The skin is not easily freed from these glossy
particles, even by repeated washing; and wherever this substance is
used, every thing soon becomes contaminated, and its glittering
nature betrays it on every article which the wearer handles.
The mode of preparing and using it, is simply" grinding it
together with grease, and smearing it generally over the body, but
chiefly on the head ; and the hair is often so much loaded and clotted
with an accumulation of it, that the clots exhibit the appearance of
lumps of mineral. A Bachapin whose head is thus covered, considers
himself as most admirably adorned, and in full dress ; and indeed,
to lay aside European prejudices, it is quite as becoming as our
own hair-powder, and is a practice not more unreasonable than ours;
with which it may in some respects be compared. There is however
a real utility in it, or rather in the grease, for those who do not
wear caps; it protects the head from the powerful, and perhaps dangerous,
effects of a burning sun, as it equally does, from those of
wet and cold. Although the color of the sibilo be a brownish red,
yet the micaceous particles give it a blueish tint in those places which
reflect the light more strongly.
I have succeeded in preparing from the sibilo a very singular
in this point of view. On the side of the hill, and nearer towards the foreground, appear
three small shallow caves, not connected with the Blinkklip, nor of the same nature.
* See the note at page 414. of the first volume.
kind of paint, which may be used either in water-color drawing or in
oil-painting, by grinding it either in gum-water or in oil: and in
finishing my drawings of the natives, I have found it most admirably
suited for giving the exact color together with that peculiar glittering
which it would be impossible to imitate by any other means.
On ascending the hill and approaching the rock, I found a large
open cavern or excavation about twenty feet high, and penetrating
about thirty feet inwards. This, being open to the daylight, afforded
a better situation for examining the mine, than the deeper excaviv-
tions which can only be seen by the light of a torch or lantern. The
whole rock appeared to be composed of this species of iron-ore,
mingled in some places with a quartzose rock. The ore is mostlv
hard and ponderous; but frequently friable and easily falling to
pieces, so that the floor of the cavern was found deeply covered with
the loose powder. To the cieling, a number of small bats were
hanging; and on the projecting crags, a species of dove (Columba
Guineensts) takes its nightly roost: thus this cave is never without
inhabitants, either the bats by day, or by night the doves. These are
called batseeba (hatsaba) in the Sichuana language; and the hats,
mammatwan. A narrow and low passage leads from the outer cavern
to an inner chamber, from which this ore is principally dug. The
size of this excavation, supposing it to be wholly the work of art,
proves that this powder has been in use during many generations;
and indeed its glittering property, its red color, and its soft greasy
quality, seem to render it exactly suitable to the ornamental taste of
all the neighbouring nations.
Muchunka related a melancholy occurrence which took place a
few years before, when several Bachapins lost their lives in this mine,
by the falling-in of part of the roof while they were at work. The
place being open to every one without restriction or regulations, each
person had dug away the quantity he wanted, from that part where it
was found of the best quality; and no one appears to have reflected
on the necessity, in such excavations especially where the rock is in
parts of a loose nature, of leaving pillars at proper distances to support
the roof. To this ignorance in the art of mining, those poor creatures
VOL. II. L L