VIEWS FROM ANDERSSON.
When Andersson visited Damaraland he found the natives an exceedingly
fine-looking race. They were tall, well-formed, and had a graceful
carriage. In color they were dark, but not black. So dirty was their
skin, however, that it was impossible to discover its natural color
under the coating of red ochre and grease with which it was smeared.
Little clothing was worn. The only garment consisted of a sheepskin or
goatskin wrapped about the waist or thrown carelessly over the
shoulders. The girls wore a kind of apron, made of quantities of small
strings, from which were suspended ornaments in the form of iron and
copper beads.
The men wore few ornaments, but the women who could afford it decorated
their wrists and ankles with iron and copper rings. The headdress of the
married women was curiously picturesque, its general shape and
appearance resembling a helmet.
In place of regular garments the men wore strips of leather, often
several hundred feet in length, wound around the loins. Their clubs and
pipes were carried in these unique belts and bands.
These natives were always well armed; they carried lances, bows and
arrows, and clubs. Another national weapon was a stick with a knob on
the end. Andersson found these natives very skillful in throwing it, for
they often brought down birds upon the wing.
They were nomadic in their life, and with their enormous herds of cattle
wandered over the country, leaving it bare of vegetation. They had a
curious custom of taking an oath in token of sincerity of purpose, when
they swore by "the tears of their mothers."
Andersson was much interested in the natives of Ovampo land and their
customs. They cultivated two kinds of corn. One was the common Kaffir
corn, and the other a small-grained variety. At the ripening of the
corn, these natives simply cut off the ear and left the remainder to the
greedy cattle.
In addition to corn, the Ovampo people cultivated calabashes,
watermelons, pumpkins, beans, and peas. Some tobacco was also raised.
The quality of it was, however, rather poor. To prepare it, the leaves
and stalks of the ripened plant were collected and then pressed in a
hollow piece of wood by means of blows from a heavy pole.
The Ovampo had, also, great herds of cattle, as well as sheep and goats.
They had hogs, too, of an enormous size. Among the domestic animals
Andersson noticed dogs and fowl.
These people were found to be exceedingly hospitable, and Andersson's
party was well entertained. The chief was very kindly disposed, and
every night after dark held a ball at the royal residence. Here the
people danced to the national music of the tom-tom and a species of
guitar.
The Ovampo women were not unpleasing in appearance. When young they had
very good figures, but the older women were exceedingly ungainly. No
doubt the weight of the heavy copper ornaments with which they loaded
their wrists and ankles was one great cause of this ungainliness. It was
no uncommon thing for these ankle rings to weigh two or three pounds
apiece. As a pair was worn on each leg, this was no inconsiderable
weight to carry about. In addition, necks, wrists and hips were almost
hidden by a profusion of shells, cowries, and beads of every size and
color. This was considered an essential feature of their dress.
Both men and women had short, crisp, woolly hair. The men often shaved
the head, with the exception of the crown, while the women besmeared and
stiffened their hair with grease and a vermilion-colored substance,
which, from being constantly added to and pressed upon the upper portion
of the head, gave it a somewhat broad, flat look.
The women smeared their bodies with grease and red ochre as an
additional touch for full-dress occasions. The men wore few ornaments,
with the exception of bead or shell earrings.
Both men and women had the curious custom of chipping off the middle
tooth of the lower jaw in token that they had outgrown childhood and had
reached manhood and womanhood.
Wishing to explore the Ovampo River, Andersson hired a native to
transport him in a canoe. The man seemed to enjoy the situation, and
took pains to paddle slowly along the river's bank and make a halt at
every hut, that the inmates might view the white man at their leisure.
The men of this tribe Andersson describes as strong and well-built, but
the women were as ugly as any he had ever seen in Africa.
The river itself and the landscape on either side were beautiful beyond
description. Fruit trees, and well-wooded ranges of mountains, stretched
away on either hand, forming a background for the beautiful scene.
Hippopotamuses and waterfowls were in abundance, and hosts of crocodiles
sunned themselves upon the islands which here and there showed above the
surface of the water.