They came frequently and asked for the looking-glass; and the remarks they made--while I was engaged in reading, and apparently not attending to them--on first seeing themselves therein, were amusingly ridiculous.

"Is that me ?" "What a big mouth I have!" "My ears are as big as pumpkin-leaves." "I have no chin at all." Or, "I would have been pretty, but am spoiled by these high cheek-bones." "See how my head shoots up in the middle!" laughing vociferously all the time at their own jokes.

They readily perceive any defect in each other, and give nicknames accordingly.

One man came alone to have a quiet gaze at his own features once, when he thought I was asleep; after twisting his mouth about in various directions, he remarked to himself, "People say I am ugly, and how very ugly I am indeed!" The Makololo use all the skins of their oxen for making either mantles or shields.

For the former, the hide is stretched out by means of pegs, and dried.