te linen petticoat coming to the knee, and with the toga-like
garment of brown cloth, leaving bare the right arm and breast.
I afterwards found out that this was the national dress, and
regulated by an iron custom, though of course subject to variations.
Thus, if the petticoat was pure white, it signified that the
wearer was unmarried; if white, with a straight purple stripe
round the edge, that she was married and a first or legal wife;
if with a black stripe, that she was a widow. In the same way
the toga, or 'kaf', as they call it, was of different shades
of colour, from pure white to the deepest brown, according to
the rank of the wearer, and embroidered at the end in various
ways. This also applies to the 'shirts' or tunics worn by the
men, which varied in material and colour; but the kilts were
always the same except as regards quality. One thing, however,
every man and woman in the country wore as the national insignia,
and that was the thick band of gold round the right arm above
the elbow, and the left leg beneath the knee. People of high
rank also wore a torque of gold round the neck, and I observed
that our guide had one on.

So soon as we had finished our meal our venerable conductor,
who had been standing all the while, regarding us with inquiring
eyes, and our guns with something as like fear as his pride would
allow him to show, bowed towards Good, whom he evidently took
for the leader of the party on account of the splendour of his
apparel, and once more led the way through the door and to the
foot of the great staircase. Here we paused for a moment to
admire two colossal lions, each hewn from a single block of pure
black marble, and standing rampant on the terminations of the
wide balustrades of the staircase. These lions are magnificently
executed, and it is said were sculptured by Rademas, the great
prince who designed the staircase, and who was without doubt,
to judge from the many beautiful examples of his art that we
saw afterwards, one of the finest sculptors who ever lived, either
in this or any other country. Then we climbed almost with a
feeling of awe up that splendid stair, a work executed for all
time and that will, I do not doubt, be admired thousands of years
hence by generations unborn unless an earthquake should throw
it down. Even Umslopogaas, who as a general rule made it a point
of honour not to show astonishment, which he considered undignified,
was fairly startled out of