them, as since the dismemberment of their country they have become very much crossed with the fugitive Matongas and Masupias, and with the tribes north of the Zambesi. Their complexion is dark brown; their heads are small, and they have mild-looking eyes and thick lips.
In their more palmy days their ornaments had probably been more elaborate; but I noticed that the lower classes wore bracelets and ankle-rings of gnu or giraffe-hide, and sometimes of iron wire. Their earrings, always simple in form, were mostly made of some better material. For clothing the men usually had nothing more than a bit of calico about the size of one’s hand, and only rarely was a skin of some small animal fastened round their loins; the women wore a short petticoat of tanned leather.
As servants the Manansas are to be preferred to any other of the South African tribes. I found them remarkably skilful in tracking game, their quiet, cautious method of proceeding often proving more effectual than greater dash and daring. As far also as my experience went, I must say that they are civil and beyond the average for honesty and fidelity. By the more powerful tribes they are regarded with great contempt, and laughed at as “the simpletons of the north,” but nothing worse seems to be alleged against them than their habitual courtesy and good-nature—qualities which, since the Matabele rule has spread from the Limpopo to the Zambesi—have become synonymous with hypocrisy and cowardice. Not content with murder and rapine, the savagery of the Matabele Zulus has gone far to stifle every noble
