n South Wales, are most
interesting in many points of view, more especially as the relics of a
stately seminary for learning, founded as early as the year 1164. The
community of the Abbey were Cistercian monks, who soon attained great
celebrity, and acquired extensive possessions. A large library was
founded by them, which included the national records from the earliest
periods, the works of the bards and the genealogies of the Princes and
great families in Wales. The monks also compiled a valuable history of
the Principality, down to the death of Llewellyn the Great. When Edward
I. invaded Wales, he burned the Abbey, but it was rebuilt A.D. 1294.

Extensive woods once flourished in the vicinity of Strata Florida, and
its burial-place covered no less than 120 acres. A long list of eminent
persons from all parts of Wales were here buried, and amongst them David
ap Gwillim, the famous bard. The churchyard is now reduced to small
dimensions; but leaden coffins, doubtless belonging to once celebrated
personages, are still found, both there and at a distance from the
cemetery. A few aged box and yew-trees now only remain to tell of the
luxuriant verdure which once grew around the Abbey; and of the venerable
pile itself little is left, except an arch, and the fragment of a fine
old wall, about forty feet high. A small church now stands within the
enclosure, more than commonly interesting from having been built with
the materials of the once celebrated Abbey of Strata Florida.

* * * * *

KAFFIR CHIEFS.

[Illustration]

In the warm summer months a thin kind of petticoat constitutes the sole
bodily attire of the Kaffir Chiefs; but in winter a cloak is used, made
of the skins of wild beasts, admirably curried. The head, even in the
hottest weather, is never protected by any covering, a fillet, into
which a feather of the ostrich is stuck, being generally worn; and they
seldom wear shoes, except on undertaking a long journey, when they
condescend to use a rude substitute for them. The bodies of both sexes
are tattooed; and the young men, like the fops of more civilized
nations, paint their skins and curl their hair. Their arms are the
javelin, a large shield of buffalo-hide, and a short club.

The women exhibit taste in the arrangement of their dress, particularly
for that of the head, which consists of a turban made of skin, and
profusely ornamented with beads, of which adornment both