ey, but baldness is rare. Bushmen have
little body-hair and that of a weak stubbly nature, and none of the fine
down usual on most skins. On the face there is usually only a scanty
moustache. A hollowed back and protruding stomach are frequent
characteristics of their figure, but many of them are well proportioned,
all being active and capable of enduring great privations and fatigue.
Considerable steatopygy often exists among the women, who share with the
Hottentot women the extraordinary prolongation of the nymphae which is
often called "the Hottentot apron" or _tablier_. Northward the Bushmen
appear to improve both in general condition and in stature, probably owing
to a tinge of Bantu blood. The Bushman's clothing is scanty: a triangular
piece of skin, passed between the legs and fastened round the waist with a
string, is often all that is worn. Many men, however, and nearly all the
women, wear the _kaross_, a kind of pelisse of skins sewn together, which
is used at night as a wrap. The bodies of both sexes are smeared with a
native ointment, _buchu_, which, aided by accretions of dust and dirt, soon
forms a coating like a rind. Men and women often wear sandals of hide or
plaited bast. They are fond of ornament, and decorate the arms, neck and
legs with beads, iron or copper rings, teeth, hoofs, horns and shells,
while they stick feathers or hares' tails in the hair. The women sometimes
stain their faces with red pigment. They carry tobacco in goats' horns or
in the shell of a land tortoise, while boxes of ointment [v.04 p.0872] or
amulets are hung round neck or waist. A jackal's tail mounted on a stick
serves the double purpose of fan and handkerchief. For dwellings in the
plains they have low huts formed of reed mats, or occupy a hole in the
earth; in the mountain districts they make a shelter among the rocks by
hanging mats on the windward side. Of household utensils they have none,
except ostrich eggs, in which they carry water, and occasionally rough
pots. For cooking his food the Bushman needs nothing but fire, which he
obtains by rubbing hard and soft wood together.

Bushmen do not possess cattle, and have no domestic animals except a few
half-wild dogs, nor have they the smallest rudiments of agriculture. Living
by hunting, they are thoroughly acquainted with the habits and movements of
every kind of wild animal, following the antelope herds in their
migrations. Their weapon is a bow made of a stout bough bent