the assegai. The shields are smaller, and usually woven of stout reeds and then covered with undressed hide. They use also a heavy kind of lance which is adapted to the chase of large game. A favourite amusement is a kind of war-dance, in which a warrior describes a conflict in which he was once engaged. Thus a chief may be often seen with his assegais in one hand, his woven shield and knobkerrie in the other, with his knife in his girdle, and his limbs encircled by a skin, to which are attached the tails of the wild cat and other animals. Adorned on his breast and on his forehead by strings of teeth, the trophies of war or of the chase, his large keen eyes gleaming from beneath his heavy brow, his white and pointed teeth shining from between his parted lips, he alternately advances and retires before an imaginary foe, with a wild yet dramatic grace, which adds life and reality to the tale he is telling. In describing these people, it is hard to determine how far they should be deemed a race of hunters or of agriculturists, the two occupations being apparently equally distributed between the sexes. The men most assiduously devote themselves to their hunting, and leave the care of the cattle and the culture of the soil to be carried on exclusively by the women. Now and then, indeed, the men bring home fruits, tubers, and funguses from their excursions in the forests, but practically they do nothing for their families beyond providing them with game. The agriculture of Swaziland, like that of Zululand involves but a small amount of labour. The area of the arable land is certainly limited, but the exuberant productiveness of the soil, scarcely to be surpassed in any part of the world, makes the cultivation of the country supremely easy, and provides the people with all they want. The entire land is, besides, pre-eminently rich in spontaneous products, animal and vegetable alike, and these conduce to a direct maintenance in comparative ease of human life. Manioc, sweet potatoes, yams, are cultivated with little trouble, and all yield good crops. Plantains are rarely seen. Although the Swazis have a few carefully prepared dishes, of which they partake on high feasts and festivals, in a general way they exhibit as little nicety or choice in their diet as the Amaxosas or the Zulus. They have one dish, however, on which they pride themselves, and this most palatable mess is composed of the pulp of fresh maize, ground or pounded while the grain is soft and milky, cleansed from the bran, and prepared carefully, so that it is not burnt to the bottom of the pot. The mode of preparation is ingenious. A little water having been put over the fire, until it is just beginning to boil, the raw meal, which has previously been rolled into small lumps, is very gently shaken in, and, having been allowed to simmer for a time, the whole is finally stirred up together. The acme, however, of all earthly enjoyments to these people would seem to be meat.