By Tugela's kindness, I had been presented with a pipe--a most precious gift, it must be known, in Caffraria, where the natives look upon smoking as the _ne plus ultra_ of life's luxuries. A company of them, when tobacco's scarce, will even smoke in the following original manner:--One will draw in from the pipe as much as his mouth will possibly hold, then pass it on to the next, and so on till all the company have been served; then they retain the fumes so long that all the vessels of the head grow surcharged with it, when the smoker drops intoxicated on to the ground--an insensibility from which he is recovered by the kindness of his friends, who, by buffets, pinches, and hair-pullings, will restore him at last to consciousness. However, on the present occasion each was fortunate enough to possess his own. Mine was a long reed, with a clumsy bowl, about four times the size of a large European pipe; for the Kaffir cannot get too much. This capacious hollow was filled with rough, coarse tobacco, which few Englishmen would smoke could they get better; but when better cannot be procured, I have no doubt they would do as I did--take what they could get. So we sat smoking, and they, snuffing and singing, till every morsel of the hide having been well manipulated, they commenced the next process. Fastening several of their needles together--the sight of them made me again grow faint,--they began twirling the bundle between their hands, so that the sharp points tore the skin till it was roughed in every part; then taking a powder, made from the rotten root of the acacia tree, they rubbed it into the hide with all their might; and this, which answered the same purpose as our tan-pit, they continued to do till the skin was ready for use. From these, and numerous other skins, the Kaffir kaross, or cloak, is made. That article, fastened round the neck, falls down the back, and, save in winter, is more for show than use. Many skins have to be used in their construction, especially when the hide is that of a small animal, such as the meerkat; and, in that case, it is most wonderful to see the neatness with which they are sewn together. It is truly surprising, when it is considered that their only implements are the needles previously mentioned, a stiff fibre for thread, and a stone to rub smooth the seams. Yet, despite these disadvantages, when completed, the kaross might be taken for a whole and perfect skin, did not the arrangement of the shades prove otherwise. Having watched all this done, and by that means succeeded in whiling away the time, I bade farewell to the skin-dressers, and, no little dejected in spirits, returned to the kraal and to my own hut, where, finding some dried koodoo flesh and a little amasi left in the gourd which had been brought me, I stayed my hunger, then sat down on my mat, feeling sure that Tugela would, after the terrible ceremony of the day was over, pay me a visit.