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FiscHer, P. H., DuvaL, M. & Rarry, A. 1933. Etudes sur les échanges respiratoires des littorines. Archives de zoologie

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Koun, A. J. 1960a. Ecological notes on Conus (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in the Trincomalee region of Ceylon. Annals and

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Koun, A. J. 1960b. Spawning behaviour, egg masses and larval development in Conus from the Indian Ocean. Bulletin of

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(continued inside back cover)

ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

ANNALE VAN DIE SUID-AFRIKAANSE MUSEUM

Volume 70 Band

September 1989 September

Part 4 Deel

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS

PART 4

SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY

LINDSAY HOOPER, PATRICIA DAVISON

& GERALD KLINGHARDT

Cape Town Kaapstad

The ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

are issued in parts at irregular intervals as material

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SOME NGUNI CRAFTS

PART 4

SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY

LInpsAy Hooper, PATRICIA DAVISON & GERALD KLINGHARDT

Department of Ethnography, South African Museum, Cape Town

(With 58 figures and 1 table)

[MS accepted 15 September 1987]

ABSTRACT

The techniques of skin-working and the utilization of skin artefacts among Nguni-speaking

people from the nineteenth century onwards are recorded from historical and ethnographic

literature, from museum collections, and from fieldwork undertaken at intervals during the past

two decades. The skin resources utilized by Nguni craftsmen included domestic and, to a lesser

extent, game animals. Considerable uniformity was found in the processes of skin-dressing

among the historically distinct Southern and Northern Nguni groups. In the artefacts produced,

however, cultural differences were more clearly discernible. The hides and skins of certain

animals were invested with cultural significance and were used for particular items of clothing,

ornament and equipment. The continued selective use of animal skins, especially for clothing,

indicated the symbolic value attached to their use in the expression of cultural identity and status

in changing social contexts.

CONTENTS

PAGE

MIETOGUCHIOMB eee ciace merece rests cctelacelctemcleaeaiais steele oes aad ote aitica teitate aura etnt 315

Resourcesjan dich an Geen speececcstasc heer eerste Sects neeeeencie ce area at ce Rens eae 318

SOuthernNe uni sskin-Anessing waco ve ec secare cease rece totoecc arent eee 320

SouthempNeuntsusesiofsskinsrandshidesseaseerenecen-eieseceeeee eee crest recat eee 326

Glothinggandsormamien teaeasce sree eee oe eee aero Renee 326

JN 0) K0)1 19! era deaenees coudok yond anecHenavanaaasodenatannodooinddnarocopnGadandaucdmannn bean: 326

| Belo N eS Hilts 6 coe roscndnoceronaastcan uncon casd aoaeaneAeuariaczounGo aournnomean aanuaane ome: 327]

IBTEASt=COVEDIN OS ios cens sciss crack ssemeaecire sie aise seamen aro nene ei meh ime meee 327

(GICE SE Ga auasecbc ano dctese ence HoH ocHcene rR en Cernbe re Cae ter eee aac TEsB eR aAOREBNRNaUA SHG 329

Girdles pare ee cece ccistate sestietres eclectic neste ae loatine sera cttahaes mara eater ca ae era 333

BEE TOE CIES ohia cana aconsaan dae devas Oh oc uaBRdaaHceruad sicrapocde Unde untada are Ne CSE rai 333

IEOIn-cOverinesrandypenis-sheaths avers eure: viene ae cece tance de erste 338

San Gal Srrepsccesececn sehen cece cence eine eee ee cmaraeatcte eeu ee em rete mena een ase B39)

OS SeGon lb aoe coeneB Mone coT cane OR rInaHade Banericir CSE Ron Sopr Acie cee ANT ASR Cee Rayan aemyt: 340

OVTTETINE TES So coonnoudontondcdacodoutosHaocemasspars Haws tone duepceietae su asoranonanauanedce 343

(COT |i agoconocanete cack undoncebRoceondeoo spe bebond TenGacpoHaiccot as NaMeAcoat ame aace: 344

(COTTE Ses sacri bb ABE REBAR EN COGLERE UIE IE py COLE DEG HE CALE CREEL aR aE ree eR rae 344

1B TISS Sec au ce onde gacce ccna tec BER SHHO URGED adant : GaE Dean een Sater eer ea AcHeno neon 344

Milk Sack Shree cee acer sue ety asec aceciitcneians ue dacaumeasiae saat auarca th veinese adelee eee 346

LOTTIE iN dee recbadapecboaser obGape HORE AEG atoc Cas CoS RTRTROH Canr Le Ero Earner nes cette 347

pS ULUND El 0X0). Cee abe obpocep iad Mr ae SE aBOD CORTON ARCH EEE ORTOBE OE EC ERED Ser BE CAE Ere 347

Sl)

Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 70 (4), 1989: 313-404, 58 figs, 1 table.

314

ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

PAGE

Site) (ee sora enc em Ree ERA G ine SESE RR Caen es aLen aE Una RoNt umn uns Sea rosdcutooteddnoBdaKdabes 347

ihhongssibindingsandithnread esses eee eeee ee eee ec ec eer eee eee eee ee eeaeree 348

INABSGS UE TaVeVO US ta ee sea Bee Secon nacnacrocuncandcadosesnubobnassoseckedaooubosaauoddes 349

BGO WStitesasccacicctek bask been Coen ats RE CREPE RCE REO EECEET RCC RE EER CCE eRe EEE eee 349

IMS ON IAL San webacs sac sys sene ae asta tacbutisesa dues seer sone Oe oe ance are ceo eee ee RReRCE Te 349

1A Ie yaa rae ned ROT er A re a ee Poe nate cee E gS oes 349

IMusicalisins trumiem tSecscsscetrreeno oe onee ine RCO SLCC ST EEE nC ee ara e 349

DWWIHTSK Soe sess Seta sire aia SSRIS e TCS RTARTA Ta ETS EOI Ee eT OD 350

NataliNguntsskin-(ressing.i...crcun.nuesensaaesuliaee ssctesiine steal eeesckecee snc en reas 350

NataluNicuniksusestoliskanszanduhid estremssseeceneeeeeece cere ec aan ere ee eee ee een eee eer 354

Clothing and ‘ormament:)... Jace. seh etter .eeess Seen aene stare eerearee eee neeeee 354

PADIONS yes sions es se lecnecetaeceb ant oseh A tetedaasa etre cise tose eer nese eRe eee eee 354

SST ON ES) FL US ane neone tacnn oncReaA so sr antonrmasercotunncnsensnateusanonsarndsedacaadtatade 354

BP REP RECON (Sg) USE nao atmeacen otenocuetar canaacE nase maaaaishcadanseanaanoceanoabac 355

(Gs (Gf) esi ne ee ot re Re Sar, A ei oe OR oe Degr DIRTD BEEBE BS eR Oo 356

FIC ASAT ESSEC Oeste rare ee ee SN IS ETON TEATS eC ae re eC E nEa S5y//

IZOIN=COVETIN GSie sac soa cas pao ueeeneti ene eee saae once Tacee nec cemme cutee te Oe eee EReRe Sp/

IREmIS=Sheathis we zy reece pee ae Ne Te ies es ater PN Lore Tare Me 361

SEG heen ste aonemancreene se aannas aA cod aeeceSenabeecouanearcee suet purndcencrtuouadods 361

Se Td oe see Bae eR nen ne Sere Son En ois SAR HH Se RAGE EE ee UE ADEA SBAE oboe 362

(Osan Fit nice easy apne pean ae aside oiou seanud oan sna gesnphesandauchacasoauchoousancsaeanans 367

Glo} ab 0 (ot eee ete ee So rocaacee oe aanouroed dautoncaresudacnd dsresed ona vescncbhesncooddos 369

BSS cde ee Casta taser au toneaonoceceigene dod to lCusnes ouddahion NantedsccnedborEEaeeactonte 369

QUIVETS cats ne oe ee ST TaD Ie re TaN oa were ROOT Ect tc Poe MICE 370

ST Tel Ve pene eae ar ee Reiner Gehan dt ci ae cE Nee Sen Si aaa REN a en oer BO RBEN AE 371

Mhongsrand*bindin gs. eaysscecemccce ee hose ebemtee nee veroeeer nes meeceeeeneneeaner Cee 373

IM Dieferel Ie iitevo) Citentine se serie adidasosonb Sacbucaodase soak ossoscosmachadeusmansapdodsdnaaucocd 373

BX Kok is Rate pe te eaan se at Series Geant an don eens cactdonnesbeanbassacncntnonseneanantnanabecades 373

J En oli Pas ene ARR Re re mc ie rae ait doLenspbeaoTodhGoaeartencernarcanacdaendoce 374

DD) OTS eee ae eset ete eee eT CE Ee eee ere eee 374

Mats oe Serscscs neh cs eee ee eT ee ROE ROPER SEE Scot eRe 374

Musicaleimstrumentscesteenccoscieeoccncce ree nee eee OnE Cer eee CE eee eneeree 374

ho) 11 2001 ¢ Leelee eee ie nies a Aner Cen A ee are A es oc ho 2 ons Soci de ddacaemaSosnud bcc 375

S) TT eee aA aeRO e aan anton ee adacacorueancncocatarunccberaod cnsacar sveacdoagodanoador 35

AA O11 era eee Seinen nceeerr ree tarde Haar eeearenaan se antelid’ adacnachderaapdcoeoptadtds: S15

WIISKS 53 sacra bs sabe etor eee bee ond Mae OEE ROG RE OR EOCENE Cee EERE er ORC EE ATE SiS)

Swazitsskin-dressing sscescas5-ecezcene seareneeassseds esac tee cece cee eeereE cee tane eee ene 375

Swazisusesroteskinspandshide@stasssastenssuee eee cease eee nese Ce REE eee CEE CEn 377

Clothingand ormament, Fae see ces ces see eae soe eee ees Si

APIONS, ise) Gotihns Sascha teu cesebenemanelcuts taemee ae chee eoaeet eee eeee eens a eran Si T

Baby Slings acetic tense coe stance rnnetearn es ceneaee eee eee ERE Ree e eRe 377

IB IEIECON (2 GUNS er peseeeasncearsadcdnrnc san enntoonaoucdundoncad ddacouccusoudbudededbasabac 377

GlOAKSh.eseiaeecboas hoon eee eae ee eR OTE Ee EERE eco ST

WOIM=COVERINGS earns. cene a soneie Saeiset emncoacesouenae oae a reeee Meee eee Pee eE EE Meee 378

SIUIES! |. craters fabshicee sare ysis os ae Stasis Se eee es Ee are TE one 379

OMMAMENtS ee iseemen ees vase alee She Ber a nee SSC eR ee 381

SUIS] Sere ele sy eas cero Saute ua Tia SSC ORERS ORE ORE ESE oe eae ener nn 381

MIN ON OSiei ca enesetanmer rich acesumaesncemenyacvas saeancoe sche ce ree ERR EC ERC EE ee eerEe 381

Miscellaneous. £5 5. asciee sant sivocen Sanne cos veo nGie Soe ae a ee ee ee 381

Ie tS eb astraiccsrenthnet pecan oat tan ase alsa Soa eehinem talviece RSET E eee eE Enea 381

Miusicalsinstrum ents: ect ssccs aac c cannes eae eee eee 382

SHOWS 3:2 sicecene am teed seat ts OMG Re GES oo eee EOS Ses Eee ee 383

IWIN ISKS 24508 orsetssari8 5 kde are sn os lacteia eGo eile aise Teg eee 383

Southern iransvaal)|Ndebele:iskin-dressing --2-15--2--4-ses sees eee eer eee 383

Southern Transvaal Ndebele: uses of skins and hides....................0.2.0.008- 385

GClothingyandvormamenti.c.--. casera: « oaececn <b eanee hc eee eee eee 385

PS PL OMS sreeaesrasta sta re sessice esos ise SURES se cine se eae eesae ocean eRe ROE ESET CT EERE 385

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 315

PAGE

Baby Shin SSprsncnarscnansraanseaasie se sciteseuteee cee eine geen eck see mc aa eaten bare teyiae 388

(COTE antic seca otes scout ace aelaa cee EGE ne TAMAR pois trac CoG eR aR RAIN canes ccd on 388

1 BIGEYG (Gb Pe CYetio re ch bout noose ane roe ORE a aae tao oa ane aOR aN SER Hoe sent Bene aria sees 388

EOIN -COV.ETAN BS arann asentecnsem rods eae one Vet seins sehr maaan cause aie A Loctite 388

(OHARA AIYOTTIS Ys Seoauoteasa conse cancan Hace reen aR MO ECG tne os ERIS Ete am 390

(CLOTELENINE iohGondaiccndcnn eC ACen an ooh Soheice cE URC USAUGE. co Gon D RARE Ee eaRt ed arc Soman omeete 391

| ETS ie nat Ga see MARGE GEES Horna hac Anca rice ERS ARE ts. 09 aE ane maR Se ate Aba as ea 391

SUOVG Ge stsa eas dossekoancon tia ames Hobe ce ee aioe cs CON ONC AR aR RIEU AEN ie Ria eel 391

IEISCEILATICOUISEE Noein rere cise tee OCC OE eS SRE EE eee nun rete 391

VVIINIS Kise parece ie ast oct cere a RR mE coe UUM Ee ARR et A IMM ie 391

Northern TiransvaaluNdebeley [email protected] ences heeeeeens 391

Northern Transvaal Ndebele: uses of skins and hides....................0ce0s0e00: 391

Clothingrandvormament: sar see ea see nae eerie eae coe anor clas loucnie tees 391

aN 0) KO}1 Soe ce SAS BEUE ric HES PGT BAL Srel ten Ree BE CoRCH Gla te iran Garter Gina ciaaaene 391

EOM=COVETITIOS sed tase escloe ete is satseerars asia sate oe emai aatan es Reina hema oaiatahunla tee 391

INdebelesinyZimbabwes skin=dnessin onstrate nee atte eee eee 393

INdebele in’ Zimbabwesiuses: of skinsiandihidesii..sesscceesoeencs oe ec ee eee eeeeee 394

Glothinsvandtornament asses ceenee ee ea oe aera omer aR ee eee 394

Ja\fo) Rolo ieeacnaaeenaropenantosdad easnbedh sao cORU A cpedoaau edie se sue Genoa ORR CANH ere eae 394

(CUO ES dea tans EB Se aA BUR sath DERE TENCE SREB aor OH ARERR <Cksiieait aah ted Meee 394

FAC AC ECTESSESW a eee eer eee See NRE ae eter ee Ryans undone ry opr eran 394

EOIN COVERINGS Saintes eee coon are a eae eR OS OC eT CA Ee CER CEE 394

Sam clall sees ce sen sree ene ee ae oe re Sea CREA IE RR aaa NN SRR re 395

SIGIRES rer eee cer accra ttc eee ose ea em open uty Ar chr Aer ne Cre MR Mc alin ISPS 395

TAMMIE ES Re ees ee ree Re er SA ers AON San OUTIRT RD ts Aer 396

STIS AS Hater cnet anes ere a aR Hn an arn ONL Nr SE Oa a RA na 396

TUNYe} 025% ao adon copbeiouanauatoresuaaanec tell do aoe aGca CH ETecna ee Ra MEA SuyA nn Zameen nee mene ns 396

IMisSCellanCOus tere asren ecm eee cer MRE Aer ye ei tes INE A sae uC 396

Bags irae co stincsccer ccm nase coes oaonn arma hentai as ona aa ets mene heiecee 396

Banke tsnaeeer a ene eee cae craaes so eM rere nae ee lee ANE RU ae alts 396

SIBTTOUTEI cogaaunanuBreonenac canon nace coe Mena etonacaeind Seon cata se ea aren Guan Mina 396

DISCUSSION ements reer eee ee To Crs PRES Seine ie Re eee ere leer Re aA 396

PACKHOWIEGPEMEN (Siathecaste seer cmeseincrec mn spins eee e ee Ea ane 400

RYT SIMRO SS aa delsttadaeenaon cae oe RGA EHE R AORTA AEE CER CRGRA RE ne oinita maar ae una ae enue ns 400

PNW DEVIATIONS reser en ee Ise ee ee ae eee ae a sal eran ee nee Ra 404

INTRODUCTION

This study of skin-working technology is largely an historical account of

processes and artefacts that were formerly essential to the Nguni economy and

material culture. The historical record has to some extent been supplemented by .

the incorporation of information collected during field expeditions between 1969

and 1983. Details are in the introduction to the series (Shaw 1976). It must be

remembered, however, that apparent continuities with past practices have been

observed in a twentieth-century context significantly different from that of the

early nineteenth century. This is part of a larger study undertaken by the Depart-

ment of Ethnography, South African Museum, under the general direction of

Margaret Shaw. While the three authors collaborated on the work as a whole,

Lindsay Hooper was primarily responsible for the section on the Northern Nguni,

which includes the Natal Nguni, Swazi and Ndebele in the Transvaal and Zim-

babwe, Patricia Davison for the section on the Southern Nguni, and Gerald

Klinghardt for the section on resources and change.

316 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

In line with previous studies in this series the unit of study is the Nguni branch

of the southern African Bantu-speaking people. Delimiting such a unit and its

representativeness are not unproblematical. As noted by Van Warmelo (1974: 60)

‘Nguni’ is a term of ethnographic convenience based on linguistic affinity, for the

people themselves have no name for this grouping. Its usage does not reflect an

ethnic identity assumed by these people or imply cultural uniformity through

time. Indeed, an historical study of regional political processes operating in the

area covered would show the relatively recent date of the formation of the

classificatory units defined by Van Warmelo.

By the time of initial contact with Europeans, the various groups making up

the Nguni were distributed in a broad belt between the sea and the interior pla-

teau (though the immediate coastal regions were little used at that time) from the

present-day central Transvaal to the eastern Cape. During the nineteenth cen-

tury, large-scale population shifts and cultural discontinuities occurred following

the rise of quasi-imperial states like that of the Zulu. This caused the emigration

of groups such as the Ndebele, now in Zimbabwe, and the formation of aggre-

gations of refugees such as the Mfengu of the eastern Cape. This study follows the

major divisions of the Nguni recognized by Van Warmelo (1974: 60-68). The

paucity of data on the formation and material culture of many of the groups within

these divisions has necessitated the use of these arbitrary classifications in order

to present a representative account of skin-working technology in this important

cultural grouping.

The study is confined to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, during which

time the central feature of known Nguni history was the transition of the majority

of these people from their ‘pre-colonial existence as pastoralist-cultivators to their

contemporary status: that of sub-subsistence rural dwellers, manifestly unable to

support themselves by agriculture, and dependent for survival upon wages earned

in “white” industrial regions or on “‘white”’ farms’ (Bundy 1972: 369). This pro-

cess was generated by a combination of environmental factors, internal socio-

economic forces and subjection to external influences stemming mainly from

contact with Europeans. Initial attempts by the Nguni to accommodate the col-

onists were followed by unsuccessful resistance that ended in the loss of political

power, social cohesion, and economic autonomy. This led to far-reaching pro-

cesses of transformation that resulted in the development of new social and cul-

tural patterns.

A material aspect of this transformation may be seen in the decline in the

incidence of crafts, particularly that of skin-working. The adoption of factory-

made European goods combined with the loss of sources of raw materials led to

the disappearance of many older practices, although some were retained as part

of an active African response to new economic opportunities. The virtual extinc-

tion of formerly widespread and numerous species of wild animals, the loss of

land, the growth of population, and the development of new attitudes towards the

use of items made of skin, have largely eliminated skin-working as a significant

economic activity.

oil,

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY

NORTHERN

NDEBELE

SOUTHERN °

(2)

NDEBELE

19th CENTURY NGUNI

KINGDOMS

A. zutu

B. swazi

(oy NDEBELE (MATABELE)

Fig. 1. Historical distribution of Nguni-speaking people, late nineteenth to mid-twentieth

century. (After Wilson 1969.)

318 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

RESOURCES AND CHANGE

In former times the Nguni made extensive use of skins and hides obtained

from livestock and game in order to meet their needs for clothing, ornaments and

utensils. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, indigenous animals were

abundant throughout the area occupied by the Nguni and a wide range of species

was exploited for meat and hides. The grasslands fringed by subtropical forests in

the eastern Cape, Natal and Swaziland, and the savannahs and dry woodlands of

the Transvaal and Zimbabwe were able to support both indigenous animals and

the livestock kept by the Nguni and their Khoikhoi and Sotho neighbours.

Although the accounts of early travellers (Paterson 1789; Thunberg 1793;

Barrow 1806) show that game abounded in the eastern Cape, Natal and Trans-

vaal, and was widely hunted by the indigenous population, it is clear that during

the nineteenth century there was no uniform pattern of dependence on hunting

for raw materials and food among all the Nguni groups, nor through time in any

one group. Among the Southern Nguni, for example, the Xhosa appear to have

been more mobile and dependent on pastoralism and hunting than other groups,

particularly during the frontier wars (Wilson 1969: 110). In Natal and Swaziland

the expansion of the Zulu under Shaka significantly affected the availability of

skin resources for all the inhabitants of those regions. Vast tracts of land became

available as hunting ranges, and large herds of cattle were appropriated by the

king and his favoured chiefs from conquered groups. The centralization of Zulu

social life around military requirements demanded an increased efficiency in the

mass production of items such as shields and warriors’ dress. Hunting was exten-

sive in order to obtain hides, horns and ivory, not only for local specialized uses

but also, perhaps more importantly, for profitable barter with traders at Delagoa

Bay and Port Natal. Tribute levied on subject groups and exacted from neigh-

bouring people under threat was often paid in the form of quantities of game

skins, an example being the monkey skins sent to the Zulu kings by the Tsonga

living around Maputo. Little is known of the early nineteenth-century Ndebele in

the Transvaal, but there is little doubt that their use of skins from indigenous

animals paralleled that of the Nguni to the south.

In all the Nguni groups hunting was regarded as a male occupation and was

a means of acquiring prestige (Bigalke 1966: 7). The skins obtained from game

were used in the manufacture of garments, accessory items and for other utili-

tarian purposes, but certain species of game, notably cats and primates, furnished

both sexes with clothing and ornaments indicative of the wearer’s status.

Despite the existence of a wide range of indigenous animals, the available

information suggests that the primary skin resource from the nineteenth century

onwards was that of domestic livestock. Hides and skins from cattle and goats, the

latter formerly used mainly by poorer people but becoming more general in the

twentieth century, provided the basic material for the manufacture of clothing

before the introduction of cloth. The apparent anomaly between a widespread use

of skins from domestic livestock and a well-documented reluctance to part with

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 319

cattle, owing to their high social value, can be resolved by reference to the fre-

quency of ritual and festive slaughters.

In the early nineteenth century, the expansion of European colonies and

influx of refugees from elsewhere exerted increasing pressure on the land occu-

pied by the Nguni. This drastically reduced the possibilities for the free movement

of Nguni groups to unoccupied areas according to the cyclical availability of

grazing and the requirements of cereal cultivation. In the south of the Nguni area

attempts to relieve these pressures through increased raiding, warfare and support

for millenarian movements, such as the ‘cattle-killing’ among the Xhosa and

Thembu in 1856-7, led to internal dissolution that precipitated submission to

European rule. In the north, similar encroachments culminated in the collapse of

the Zulu state in 1879. All these processes produced new conditions of existence

in which widespread exploitation of game and domestic animals was no longer

possible and the use of skin declined accordingly.

Under European rule the transformation of the Nguni socio-economic system

proceeded rapidly (Peires 1981). While some of the surplus population was drawn

into wage-labour on farms or in towns, peasant farmers expanded such oppor-

tunities for cultivation as existed on the reduced amount of land left to them.

Many adopted new agricultural techniques and equipment, such as the plough,

and invested in types of livestock with more cash potential. Though cattle

remained a capital investment, the transition to a cash economy changed attitudes

towards their disposal. The introduction of money as a medium of exchange

meant that livestock and hides could be sold in order to obtain the means of

purchasing goods that had come to be regarded as necessities, as can be seen in

the case of the large scale cattle-trading conducted by the Mpondo in the second

half of the nineteenth century (Beinart 1982: 23). In contrast with the situation

under the previous pattern of exchange trading, these changes in practices and

attitudes produced permanent changes in the pattern of exploitation of natural

resources, which were hastened by natural disasters such as the rinderpest epi-

demic of 1897.

In addition to excessive hunting encouraged by the use of firearms, the

numbers and distribution of indigenous animals diminished as the amount of

natural cover shrank with the creation of farmlands, while in those areas grazed

by domestic animals the game was unable to live on the unpalatable types of

replacement vegetation. The beginning of this process was already evident in the

eastern Cape in the early nineteenth century. In combination with the socio-

political factors, the consequences of overstocking — declining quality of livestock,

and increased vulnerability to disease and drought—played an important role in

institutionalizing proverty in the rural areas and increasing involvement in the

national economy in the twentieth century. These pervasive changes reduced the

economic importance of cattle-keeping, and an explanation for the persistence of

a limited amount of skin-working in certain areas, up to the time of writing, will

have to be sought in reasons other than economic necessity, including the expres-

sion of conservatism, trends in fashion, and contemporary ethnic consciousness.

320 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

SOUTHERN NGUNI: SKIN-DRESSING

During the nineteenth century, skin-dressing and tailoring of skin clothing

were widely practised activities, particularly during the winter months when the

labour demands of agriculture were low. In addition hides were made into shields,

sandals, milk-containers, bellows (an essential item of metal-working equipment)

and bags of various kinds, each of which required specific technical skills. As a full

ethnographic description of Southern Nguni skin-dressing, drawn largely from

historical sources, has already been published (Shaw & Van Warmelo 1974:

165-185), only a summary will be given here with emphasis on the technical pro-

cesses involved.

In both traditional skin-dressing and industrial tanning the process of trans-

forming a raw skin or hide into a stable usable product involves a number of

stages, during which the fresh skin is cured and treated with certain substances

that have a stabilizing effect on the protein fibres that would otherwise be subject

to rapid organic decay. At least four processes must take place before the skin is

ready for use—these are drying or curing, cleaning, softening and currying, and

treatment with fat to make the skin supple. With slight local variations the

following method of preparing skins and hides was common throughout the

Southern Nguni area.

Drying

Fresh skins were usually stretched out, flesh side upwards, fixed (-bopelela).

to the ground with wooden pegs (izikhonkwane) and allowed to dry in the sun

(Fig. 2). By reducing the moisture content of the skin in this way the likelihood

Fig. 2. Skin pegged out for cleaning; Libode, Transkei, 1985.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY Zyl

of bacterial action was minimized and, if completely dry, an unworked skin would

remain stable for some time and could be stored until taken to the next stage of

preparation.

A specialist craftsman practising in the King William’s Town area in 1969

used salt to aid the drying process but this was not indicated in earlier accounts.

In most cases it seems that cleaning followed fairly shortly after the skin had been

stretched out and dried.

Cleaning and reducing thickness

After drying, large skins were suspended from the cross-beam of a vertical

frame (Fig. 3), attached to the beam by thongs through the peg holes, or hung

over the beam and pegged on either side at an angle to the ground. Smaller skins

were pegged out, again horizontally, after the flesh side had been moistened with

water and the hair on the underside smeared with fresh cow dung—said to be a

good disinfectant (McLaren 1919: 447). In many accounts dung is recorded as

having a softening, depilatory effect on the skin. Allowing a wet skin to rot for a

few days had a similar result. Under correct conditions of temperature and acid-

ity, enzymes present in dung act on the protein fibre of the epidermal structure to

loosen the hair roots. This action, known as bating in the leather industry, also

encourages flexibility of the skin.

The moistened flesh side of the skin was then scraped and pared (-phala) with

an adze or axe blade (isixengxe) and rubbed with a rough stone (uhlalutye) to

remove bits of flesh still adhering to the skin and to reduce its thickness and

CMM

Fig. 3. Frame used when cleaning large skins; Cat’s Pass, Transkei, 1971.

322 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

unevenness. The paring down continued until the roots of the hair were just vis-

ible. This scraping and thinning process was arduous—cleaning a large skin con-

stituted a full day’s work for two men (McLaren 1919: 447). It was important that

the scraping be carried out thoroughly, as any remaining fragments of flesh would

later be converted into fatty acids and cause the skin to rot, rendering all the work

useless. From Kay’s (1833: 342) account, skin-workers seemed well aware of this

and were generally very particular about this part of the operation. At this stage

the skin was referred to as umpalane, the scraped; the scrapings were either

cooked and eaten as a delicacy or were made into a particular kind of snuff-box

(see p 347).

Softening and currying

The dried, scraped skin was usually handed over to the women for braying

and currying. At least five or six women would co-operate in this activity (Kay

1833: 342), which firstly involved dampening the rigid skin again and trampling it

by foot or pounding it with stones. It was then rubbed with rough stones and

stretched out on the ground to be abraded (-rwexwa), and rubbed (-kuhla) with

spiky aloe leaves, imihlaba, which gave the softened skin a raised nap. When the

nap was of sufficient thickness the skin was left to dry indoors in a warm place.

Thereafter the surface was dampened (-gcabha) with warm water, sour milk, a

mixture of milk and ashes, or with mesembrianthemum juice, and was then cur-

ried again with aloe leaves (Campbell 1815: 369; Ross 1824: 215). In certain areas

skins were partially tanned by applying an infusion of the bark and leaves of

Schotia latifolia or Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus (Watt & Breyer-Brandwyk 1962:

184). When the dressed skin was dry the women rubbed it by hand until it was

pliable.

Application of fat and colouring

The dry, softened skin was smeared with melted animal fat or butter on the

hair-side, rolled into a tight bundle, and left overnight. Some skin-workers

applied bone marrow or a mixture of brains soaked in hot water to the skin. The

phosphate content of these substances would have had a preserving action on the

protein fibres. The day after the fat had been applied the skin was moistened and

rubbed again by hand to help the fat to penetrate and to increase the softness of

the skin (Fig. 4). After repeated kneading, the skin was allowed to dry and was

curried yet again with aloe leaves to create the desired smooth, woolly texture,

umhlapo. According to Hunter (1936: 101) Mpondo skin-workers buried hides in

the cattle byre for a night or more before the final currying by hand.

The final stage of the dressing process was to smear the nap side of the skin

with a paste of ochre or other colourant, which adhered to the fat previously

absorbed by the skin. A black dye (ibiba) was made from the ashes of the heart-

wood or bark of certain trees, powdered and rubbed into the skin. A red dye was

obtained from the bark of Schotia latifolia. It is likely that the tanning properties

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 323

Fig. 4. Mfengu woman softening a skin; Fort Beaufort, Cape; by Baines 1848. (Africana

Museum.)

of the plant extracts used traditionally in skin-dressing helped to stabilize and

preserve the skins in domestic use.

Dressing of fur and hair

The above process produced supple skins free of hair. How the process dif-

fered when the hair was retained, is not clear from historical accounts. Adams

(1839: 131) mentioned that when dressing ‘tiger or other skins’ they were spread

out on grass, covered with sheep’s fat and a kind of chalk, and then rubbed with

an abrasive stone until soft. He noted that the hair remained undisturbed and

there was no mention of dung or heat. This seems significant in that under certain

conditions dung would have had the undesirable effect of loosening the hairs at

the roots. No other information was recorded on the dressing or maintenance of

furs.

Preparation of unsoftened hides

When intended for shields or sandals, a hide was only taken through the first

two stages of preparation—those of being stretched out to dry and scraped clean.

The hair was left on and the thickness of the hide was not pared down. It was

allowed to dry hard, in which condition it was called intlonze. Thereafter it was

cut into the required shape.

324 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

A shield-maker still active in the Mount Ayliff area in 1969 made small

shields for young men engaging in stick fights. He wet the prepared skin before

cutting it into an oval shape and making slits through which decorative strips were

passed. At the back loops for the stick and a grip for holding the shield were

made. As the shield dried it was hammered flat with a stone and fat was worked

into it.

Xhosa craftsmen who worked with unsoftened hides not only made shields,

but also sandals, quivers for spears, and warriors’ headbands to which crane

feathers were attached.

Throughout the Nguni area thongs and whipcords were made from unsoft-

ened hides (amathwathwa). Before cutting, the skin was immersed in water. A

long strip was then cut, starting from the outer edge of the hide and working

around and around to the centre. The strip was then looped over a strong branch

or specially constructed frame and the lower ends fastened to a piece of wood that

Fig. 5. Twisted thongs weighted with a heavy stone; Libode, Transkei, 1985.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY B25

was weighted with a heavy stone (Fig. 5). Another stick was used to wind the strip

up as tightly as possible and was then removed to release the taut spiral. This

winding and unwinding was repeated a number of times over a few days, by which

time most of the hair had fallen off. Fat was then applied and, after a further two

days on the frame, the thong was ready for use. A dressing of cream was used to

Keep thongs supple.

Cutting and sewing softened skins

Once a skin had been prepared for use, uneven edges were trimmed and any

holes in the skin were carefully repaired (Adams 1839: 131). Cutting the skin to

the required shape for particular items of clothing—for example, cloaks, head-

dresses or aprons—was generally the work of a specialist, usually a woman among

the Xhosa and Thembu, and a man among the Mpondo, Xesibe and Bhaca. In all

areas the cutting and sewing of certain special garments, such as the leopard-skin

cloak worn only by chiefs, was done by appointed craftsmen.

When cut to the appropriate shape the skin was returned to the owner for

sewing. The thread used was made from sinew (usinga) obtained from dried

tendons—preferably of game animals—that had been flattened with a stone,

separated into strands of fibre, and rolled into thread by hand.

A metal awl (isilanda) was used to make small holes along the edges of the

pieces to be joined and the thread was sewn through the holes in a continuous

oversewing stitch. Fine, neat stitching is apparent on many examples of skin

clothing preserved in museum collections. Dohne (1844: 40) recorded that, after

sewing, the garment was dampened and stretched out in order to straighten and

tighten the seams. Thereafter it was once again rubbed by hand, in conjunction

with application of fat—or sour milk as was the Xhosa custom—and finally, if the

skin had not been dyed previously, powdered ash, bark or ochre might be rubbed

into the garment.

Practitioners

Both men and women participated in preparing skins for use. The initial

stages of flaying the animal, pegging the skin out to dry, and scraping it clean were

always carried out by men. Thereafter either men or women took the skin through

the time-consuming processes of braying, currying, raising a nap (especially for

skins intended for women’s clothing), and working fat into the skin. Among the

Xhosa it was customary practice for women to do most of the work after the skin

had been scraped clean, and they also did the cutting and sewing of garments.

Among the Mpondo, men were primarily responsible for skin-working but

women gave occasional help. Thembu women curried the skins and worked up

the nap and thereafter men worked in the fat and softened the skin by hand.

Women tended to make the clothing for everyday wear and there was some

degree of specialization in cutting garments. Men tended to specialize in making

clothing for ceremonial purposes, as well as shields and other items made of

unsoftened hide.

326 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Co-operative labour was essential to the process of skin-dressing. Most

accounts indicate that for a large skin at least two people, and usually more,

worked on it at any stage of the process. The cleaning was said to be particularly

hard work, taking two men a full day to complete. At the braying stage the whole

village might participate intermittently over a period of several days. It is difficult

to assess the time expended on the whole process because skin-working was

interspersed with other domestic activities and at certain stages the skin could be

set aside. Craftsmen still practising in the 1970s took between one and two weeks

to prepare a cow-hide. Déhne (1844: 41) estimated that it took at least three to

four weeks for a cloak to be completed but he gave no indication of the relative

time spent on cutting, sewing and decorating.

At Engcobo in 1969, a Thembu woman working on her own took six months

to prepare five goatskins and make them into a skirt. While this case may have

been exceptional, it does indicate the possible investment of time by one individ-

ual in a single garment. To supply skin clothing for an extended family must have

been demanding, not only in terms of resources but also in labour and time.

Considering this, together with changing economic conditions during the nine-

teenth century, when the trade in raw hides increased and imported cotton blan-

kets and cloth became more accessible (Beinart 1980: 137), it is not surprising that

the domestic demand for dressed skins for clothing declined.

SOUTHERN NGUNI: USES OF SKINS AND HIDES

CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT

The synthesis presented here is based on historical and more recent ethno-

graphic sources. As many of the relevant historical records and illustrations of

clothing and ornament have already been published in the comprehensive volume

by Shaw & Van Warmelo (1988), only selected references are quoted here and the

figures complement rather than duplicate those previously published.

APRONS

Terms: inciyo—a woman’s modesty apron, made of skin and ornamented with beads;

icacawe—a woman’s modesty apron, made of the small ends of wmkwinti (Kropf 1915).

Throughout the Southern Nguni area, small skin aprons were essential items

of dress for women. In an early account of Xhosa clothing, skin aprons were

described as consisting of ‘een stuk vel of eene franje van vellen’ [a piece of skin

or fringes of skin] (Van Plettenberg 1778: 48).

In the early nineteenth century a small skin apron was the only garment worn

by a woman under her cloak. Although to the missionary Kay (1833: 114), an

apron three to four inches broad and decorated with various coloured beads

seemed to be worn ‘more as an ornament than as a matter of decorum’, it satisfied

customary clothing requirements. Later in the nineteenth century these aprons

were worn under long skirts (see pp. 340-343) and well into the twentieth

century they continued to be worn as undergarments.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY B27]

Skin aprons were mentioned by a number of observers in the nineteenth

century, nearly all of whom commented on decoration with glass beads, buttons

or brass rings (Lichtenstein [1810] 1928: 339; Hallbeck & Fritsch 1827: 303;

Morgan 1833: 37; Alexander 1837: 391). A combination of blue and white, or

black and white beads, seems to have been the earliest form of decoration, as

illustrated in the drawings of early travellers and confirmed by museum speci-

mens. Beaded aprons in the shape of a swallow-tail were recorded in the Xhosa

area in the first half of the nineteenth century. These were probably worn over a

fringed apron, as shown in an illustration by Bisset (1835; AFR 63/1550).

It should be noted that, even before cloth was available, not all aprons were

made entirely of skin. Twisted plant fibre (umkwinti, Gazania pinnata) was very

widely used to make fringed aprons (Soga 1932: 413).

BABY-SLINGS

Terms: imbeleko—the skin or blanket in which a baby is carried on a woman’s back . . .;

isibeleko—a womb (Kropf 1915).

The skin of a goat, slaughtered as a ritual offering to the ancestors on the

birth of a baby, was used to make an imbeleko sling (Fig. 6) for carrying the

child on the mother’s back. It was believed that the well-being of the child was

associated with the use of the imbeleko, which was also used as a mat for the

child to sit or sleep on. The fact that the term imbeleko derives from the same

stem as isibeleko, meaning womb, suggests an association of meaning that

underlines the symbolic, protective value of the baby-sling.

The imbeleko was often covered by the upper part of a skin cloak, tied at the

waist and around the shoulders (Duggan-Cronin 1939, pl. 27).

BREAST-COVERINGS

Terms: imbeka—the small square of light skin that covers a woman’s breast when at work

or at home; incebetha—attire of beads used by women as a breast-covering; ixhosha—a dressed

hide, especially the covering made from it and worn over the breasts by females (Kropf 1915).

Before the nineteenth century, breast-coverings were not mentioned in the

literature. Barrow (1806: 152) stated explicitly that Xhosa women wore nothing

whatsoever under their cloaks except a little apron. From about the second

decade of the nineteenth century, references to breast-coverings occur in the

records. In the 1820s Kay (1833: 114) observed that it was ‘accounted exceedingly

unbecoming for a female to go about with her breasts uncovered . . . therefore,

she wears the imbeka which is also ornamented with beads’. Later records confirm

that married women wore a piece of softened skin over the breasts (King 1853:

169; Steedman 1835: 260; Thompson 1827: 58). ; )

Breast-coverings varied somewhat in form. Alberti (1810: 32) recorded a

square-shaped ‘net’ and Soga (1932: 236, 242) described the incebetha as a‘bod-

ice’ made from the stomach membrane of ruminating animals-and. adorned with

a beaded fringe. King’s description (1853: 169) of a ‘small forked apron of leather’

is confirmed by nineteenth-century illustrations and an early museum specimen

(BM 4587, Transkei, 1867). Breast-coverings were often decorated with long

328 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 6. Hlubi woman holding her child. The skin imbeleko around her shoulders is used for

carrying the baby on her back, c. 1930. (Duggan-Cronin collection, McGregor Museum.)

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 329

fringes of beads attached to the upper edge. Later examples show that cloth

eventually replaced skin but the bead ornamentation remained relatively

unchanged.

A special antelope-skin breast-covering worn by pregnant women was

recorded among the Mfengu by Tyrrell (1968: 177), who suggested that the use of

this ‘maternity apron’ is a remnant of Northern Nguni material culture that was

retained. In other respects Mfengu dress is more akin to that of the Xhosa.

In the 1930s Hunter recorded that skin breast-coverings were worn by

Mpondo women. By the 1970s, when fieldwork for this study was being con-

ducted, skins had ceased to be used but those married women who still adhered

to traditional dress wore a breast-covering made from towelling or heavy cotton

cloth, ibhayi.

CLOAKS

Terms: umnweba—a garment of different colours, made of the skins of various kinds of

small animals; ingubo—a garment, kaross, cloak, robe . . . (Kropf 1915).

Cloaks made from the skins of game animals or from the hides of cattle, were

worn throughout the Southern Nguni area by both men and women.

Men’s cloaks were usually just wide enough to close in front and on many

occasions were worn open, hanging loosely to the back from the shoulders or over

one shoulder. The fur side of the cloak was folded back at the neck to form a

rolled collar, which showed off the quality of the pelt. This was particularly

noticeable in the case of chiefs’ cloaks that were either trimmed with or made

entirely of leopard skin (Fig. 7).

The women’s cloaks, which attracted the attention of many observers, were

fuller and of a different cut from those worn by men; they were also often dec-

orated with metal studs, trinkets, a cosmetic box, or with small animal skins

(Alberti 1810: 31-32; Steedman 1835: 243; Shaw 1860: 408). A simpler cloak was

also worn by women, probably on less formal occasions. Early illustrations show

that, in general, cloaks were worn with the hair on the inside, but there were a

number of different ways of draping them around the body.

Women’s voluminous cloaks were made either from a single large skin with

additional pieces of skin inserted to give the required width, or from three or four

panels of antelope or cattle skin cut to give a semi-flared shape. The panels were

sewn together with twisted sinew thread, umsonto, and then dampened to allow

the seams to be drawn tightly together when dry. The garment was curried by

hand, rubbed with fat, and usually dyed black with powdered heartwood or

mimosa bark. At this stage a new cloak was called igcabhe.

A characteristic feature of Xhosa, Thembu and Mfengu women’s cloaks was

a long strip of hide, isibhaca, attached to the back of the neck and reaching the

full length of the cloak (Fig. 8). This flap, about 30 cm wide, was made from a

number of small pieces of hide carefully sewn together and, unlike the rest of the

cloak, it was worn with the hairy side outwards. It was usually studded ornately

with round or flat brass buttons. Variations in the richness of decoration on this

330 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 7. Xhosa Paramount Chief wearing a cloak trimmed with leopard skin, c. 1930. (Duggan-

Cronin collection, McGregor Museum.)

feature of the cloak allowed differences in wealth and status to be made apparent.

As Soga (1932: 412) remarked it was a ‘show piece’.

One of the few nineteenth-century cloaks preserved in a museum (BM 4591,

Transkei, 1867), is of semicircular shape with a strip of hide, ornamented with six

rows of brass buttons, hanging down the back. In addition the strip is flanked on

both sides with long iron chains, and a tortoise shell is attached by means of a strip

of leather covered with brass rings. A cloak illustrated by Angas (1849) has similar

ornamental details.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 331

Fig. 8. Thembu man and woman, showing cloak with decorated panel at back. (Gardiner 1836.)

The most common manner of wearing the tailored cloak was wrapped com-

pletely around the body and closed at the neck, or open just a little to reveal the

top of a beaded breast-covering. A lighter cloak or wrap was worn in a number

of different ways—tied at the neck, under the arms across the breast, or rolled

down to the waist. A light cloak could also be tied at the waist and across the

shoulders to provide a carrier for a baby on the back (Campbell 1815: 369; ’'Ons

1849). It is likely that the lighter, multipurpose cloaks were everyday dress,

whereas the tailored, decorated cloaks were more formal. The latter were

recorded only in the west of the Southern Nguni area; they were not recorded

among the Mpondo, who were said to wear unadorned simple cloaks (Bain

1829: 103).

Children wore skin cloaks that were diminutive unornamented versions of

those worn by adults. Sheepskin cloaks, with the wool inwards, were worn by

herd-boys (Fig. 9) and by initiates living in seclusion in the cold winter months.

Among the Xhosa in the Tshabo area, initiates’ cloaks were made by specialists,

two of whom were still practising in 1969. For one cloak up to 10 sheepskins were

cleaned and softened individually before being cut and sewn together with sinew

thread.

Among the Thembu the white sheepskins used for an initiate’s cloak were

prepared by his father and sewn by his mother. The cloak was worn by the initiate

throughout his seclusion and, according to Broster (1967: 134), after circumcision

the prepuce was sewn or tied to the cloak, which was eventually burnt—together

332 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 9. Thembu herd-boys wearing sheepskin cloaks, c. 1930. (Duggan-Cronin collection,

McGregor Museum. )

with the lodge—at the ritual closing of the school. The white of the cloak and the

white clay with which initiates smeared their bodies, symbolized their transitional

status to adulthood and their temporary separation from the community.

Fur cloaks or capes were used by diviners. A Thembu example is made up of

the pelts of many different animals, including wild-cat (F. S. Malan Museum, Fort

Hare: Hamilton Welsh Collection 617, Cofimvaba, 1937). The choice of skin for

diviners’ clothing was often determined by visions experienced by the diviner

(Bigalke 1966: 9).

Fur cloaks were also used on ceremonial occasions, such as the installation of

a chief, by the zmbongi (Fig. 10), who recited praises in the chief’s honour.

A small cape, isidabane, made of a complete antelope skin was worn by

Xhosa men for ceremonial dances or celebrations such as weddings. During the

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 333

Fig. 10. Jmbongi wearing fur cloak at installation of Chief Ndamase, Pondoland, Transkei, 1979.

nineteenth century it was worn as a cape by warriors performing war-dances and

around the waist when fighting (see p. 339).

GIRDLES

Terms: ingcengce—a girdle or waistband; iggesha—a girdle, band, napkin, bound about

the waist (Kropf 1915).

Ties of skin or thong were attached to aprons, and simple leather girdles were

worn by women to gather in their cloaks at the waist (Campbell 1815: 369). In

addition to these essentially functional waistbands, there were decorative girdles

and belts adorned with metal or glass beads and other trinkets (Lichtenstein

[1810] 1928: 339; Shaw & Van Warmelo 1988: 676).

In times of food shortage both men and women are said to have fastened

belts tightly around the waist to allay hunger (King 1853: 197).

HEAD-DRESSES

Terms: umnqwazi—a covering for the head of women; being a high cap made of skin

trimmed with beads; unkontsho—a woman’s head-dress, a mitre; isidlokolo—cap of baboon’s

skin; isila—appendage of blue-buck skin on a woman’s cap; lappet, sash; isindwe—a collection

of crane’s feathers, used by warriors as a head-dress . . . (Kropf 1915).

Early travellers in the west of the Southern Nguni area noted that among the

Xhosa and Thembu a characteristic feature of married women’s attire was the

wearing of elaborate head-dresses. Among the people living in the east, head-

dresses were not noted but hair-styles and hair ornaments were prominent. It is

likely, however, that throughout the area young married women would have fol-

lowed the custom of hlonipha, which required that they cover their heads modestly

334 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

and screen their eyes as a token of respect for their husbands (Gitywa 1971: 115).

Among the Bhaca the skin used for a newly married woman’s head-covering (Fig. 11)

came from a special goat provided by her father-in-law as part of the ceremonial

exchanges between the two families (Hammond-Tooke 1962: 111).

Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century illustrations indicate that

head-coverings were either a softened piece of skin tied around the head to form

a simple turban or a very distinctive sewn and beaded head-dress also made of

skin (see Shaw & Van Warmelo 1988, pls 68-72).

The beaded head-dress, umnqwazi (Figs 12, 13), recorded only among the

Xhosa and Thembu, was like a tapered bag with the narrow end tucked under the

bands that held it in position on the head. It was made from a number of tapered

panels of skin, which had been appropriately prepared and then oversewn

(Fig. 14A) with sinew thread along the length and narrow ends.

Fig. 11. Bhaca bride wearing hlonipha head-dress, c. 1930. (Duggan-Cronin collection,

McGregor Museum.)

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 335

Fig. 12. Woman wearing umnqwazi head-dress. Note also decorated panel on cloak. (Baines

1836, original in S.A. National Gallery.)

Fig. 13. Umnqwazi head-dress; SAM-5918, Transkei, 1938.

336 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 14. A. Detail of oversewing on umnqwazi head-dress. B. Detail of lazy-stitch beadwork

technique used to ornament the head-dress.

Bands for securing the head-dress were later sewn to the side panels. A piece

of wood was placed inside the head-dress to give it the correct shape and then it

was buried. After being removed, it was sprinkled with milk and softened by hand

(Dohne 1844: 41). Beads were sewn on in narrow bands of ‘lazy stitch’ (Fig. 14B)

down the length of the head-dress.

Skins from the bushbuck, imbabala, and the blue duiker, iphuthi, were

selected for making these head-dresses (Alberti 1810: 32; Thompson 1827: 358;

Kay 1833: 144). The rarity of bluebuck skin made it highly valued, but even more

distinguished was the use of leopard skin—a privilege accorded only to the wives

of chiefs (King 1853: 63). The richness of bead decoration was another indicator

of status. In the early nineteenth century, shells and pieces of polished copper and

iron were used together with relatively few glass beads sewn along the seams but,

by the third decade of the century, head-dresses were profusely beaded with white

and black, or white and blue beads (Barrow 1806: 120; Phillips 1827: 192; Morgan

1833: 38; Alexander 1837: 390).

There seem to have been slight variations in the manner of wearing the head-

dress but in all cases the beadwork ornamentation was shown off to advantage,

and early illustrations show long lappets of antelope skin further adorning the

head-dress (Gordon 1776; Sonnerat 1782). The careful choice of skin as well as

the tailoring and ornamentation of the head-dresses reflected the value attached

to these ‘most expensive articles of clothing’ (Kay 1833: 114). After the mid-

nineteenth century these head-dresses seem to have been used less regularly and

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY B37)

by the end of the nineteenth century the distinctive wmnqwazi had given way to

other forms of head-dress made of cloth. It has remained customary, however, for

Xhosa and Thembu married women who wear traditional dress to keep their

heads covered (Bigalke 1972: 71).

A distinctive fur cap, isidlokolo, often made from baboon or monkey skin,

formed part of the costume worn by diviners, both male and female (Fig. 15).

This head-dress was often trimmed with a fringed band of white beadwork.

Fig. 15. Xhosa diviners’ costumes, c. 1930. (Duggan-Cronin collection, McGregor Museum.)

Inflated gall-bladders attached to a headband were also characteristically worn by

diviners. This form of head-dress is well illustrated in a study of a Bhaca diviner

by Duggan-Cronin (Fig. 16).

A hide headband to which the long wings of the blue crane were attached,

was worn only by Xhosa warriors whose bravery had been recognized by the

chief. This distinctive isindwe head-dress, with horn-like appearance, was worn

into battle (Morgan 1833: 37). Many early nineteenth-century illustrations show

warriors wearing the crane-feather head-dress but, with the termination of the

frontier wars, it had become obsolete by the end of the century.

338 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 16. Bhaca diviner, wearing head-dress of gall-bladders and goatskin bandoliers, c. 1930

(Duggan-Cronin collection, McGregor Museum.)

LOIN-COVERINGS AND PENIS-SHEATHS

Terms: inxiba—penis cap; isidla sokugqgishela—a small bag to cover the penis; isidabane—

the skin of the wla [oribi], impunzi {duiker] or iliza [rhebok] . . . used as dress in fighting parties,

or in dances at marriage feasts; . . . it is bound round the loins of fighters (Kropf 1915).

Late eighteenth-century illustrations (Gordon 1776; Van Plettenberg 1778)

show men wearing small aprons of skin attached to a waist girdle, but by far the

most widely recorded item of men’s clothing was the penis-sheath. This was

required dress for all men past the age of adolescence (Barrow 1806: 167; Moodie

1835: 247; Cook 1931: 162; Shaw & Van Warmelo 1988: 520).

Although by the turn of the century western dress had been widely adopted,

conservative Bhaca men continued to wear a penis-sheath under trousers because

they felt ‘naked’ without it (Hammond-Tooke 1958: 17).

Penis-sheaths (Fig. 17) were made from many different kinds of skin,

including that of intestine or pericardium, as well as from other materials such as

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 339

Fig. 17. Penis-sheath; SAM—9429, King William’s Town, 1968.

cocoons, fruit-shells and woven grass. The skin had to be carefully softened and

sewn to the required shape. The sewing was often done by women but Mpondo

men were said to sew their own sheaths. In some cases the hair was left on the

outside and additional ornamental strips or tails of hide were attached, as were

beads or other decorative trimmings.

During the nineteenth century a larger loin-covering made of antelope skin

was wrapped around the hips when men were at war or involved in fighting. This

was the isidabane (see p. 333), which at other times was worn as a small cape

tied around the neck (Alberti 1810: 31; Morgan 1833: 37).

SANDALS

Terms: isithlangu—a sandal cut out of the thick part of a skin; a thing that protects; a shield;

imbadada—a sandal (Kropf 1915).

Generally men and women preferred to go barefoot. Sandals were worn,

however, when going on a long journey and traversing rugged paths or when

hunting. Men often carried a pair of sandals on the end of a stick or behind a

shield in readiness should the road become rough (Van der Kemp 1804: 440).

The sandals consisted of a sole of heavy hide secured by thongs tied around

the foot and between the big toe or by an upper piece of leather that left only the

toes exposed.

Sandals were made by the craftsmen who also made shields and quivers.

Generally the unsoftened hide of an ox or a game animal was used. McLaren

(1919: 448) noted specifically that skin from the forehead of an ox was used by

340 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Xhosa sandal-makers. The sole was cut to the shape of the foot, allowing about

one centimetre extra width all round. Additional pieces of skin stitched to the

sides and back of the sole formed the uppers, which were tied together with a

thong when the sandal was worn.

By the second half of the nineteenth century, shoes similar to the ‘veldt

schoen’ used by Dutch colonists were in use (Shaw 1860: 417).

SKIRTS

Terms: isikhaka—a short skirt made of skin; a petticoat; wmthika—a tail, skirt, long gar-

ment... (Kropf 1915).

Many records from the early nineteenth century refer to a ‘kind of petticoat

of leather’ worn by married women around the waist. From illustrations

(Thompson 1827: 358; Shaw 1840: 57) it seems that this skirt may have been

formed by rolling a light cloak down at the waist and securing it so that it hung to

just below the knees (Fig. 18).

Fig. 18. Xhosa woman wearing skirt and breast-cloth. (Bell c. 1834, Cape Archives.)

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 34]

ie) 50

Fig. 19. Patterns of skin skirts. A. NASKO 35/492, Thembu, Xalanga district, 1935. B. SAM-

9584, Thembu, Engcobo, 1969. C. EL 4793, Gcaleka, Qora River, 1967.

342 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Later in the nineteenth century, skin skirts styled on the line of European

fashion came into use, especially among Xhosa and Thembu women. These were

cut and sewn to a semicircular flare (Fig. 19A—C), achieved either by joining a

number of tapered panels as in the case of two Thembu skirts (NASKO 35/492,

Xalanga, 1935; SAM—9584, Encobo, 1969), or by adding shaped side panels to a

straight-seamed central panel as in a Gcaleka skirt (EL 4794, Qora River, 1967).

By insetting shaped pieces the tailor could correct irregularities in the skin or

patch holes.

Cattle-hide seems to have been the most frequently used material, but goat-

skin was also used. Sinew thread was used for the fine oversewing that joined the

seams. To colour a skirt, red ochre mixed with fat was rubbed into the hide.

The skirt was worn wrapped around the body and was tied at the waist with

a girdle. The skirt generally reached the ankles (Fig. 20) and if the hair was left

on the skin it was worn inwards.

Fig. 20. Thembu woman wearing a skin skirt, 1935. (National Cultural History and

Open-air Museum.)

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 343

It was customary for a man to provide his wife with a skin skirt soon after the

occasion of their marriage and thereafter an isikhaka became her habitual dress.

By the mid-twentieth century, skin skirts were worn primarily on ceremonial

occasions, having been replaced for everyday use by cotton skirts of similar shape,

which had the advantage of being easier to acquire and less heavy to wear.

In the east of the Southern Nguni area, Mpondo and Bhaca women wore

skirts that consisted of two pieces of goatskin wrapped around the body so that the

back skirt overlapped the front. The skirt was supported at the waist by a girdle.

A special ‘skirt’ or kilt, imithika, made of tails or strips of animal skins

formed part of the ceremonial dress worn by diviners. The kilt was generally worn

over another garment wrapped around the hips. The costume and accessories of

Xhosa and Thembu diviners are illustrated by Broster (1976: 96-98; 1982).

ORNAMENTS

Terms: inqguma—a head ornament [of skin]; inqgashela—piece of skin used as a legging;

ingcaca—cowrie shells used as an ornamental band on the foreheads of men; intshinga

ornament of tassel-like appearance made from the tufted end of a jackal’s or hartebeest’s tail,

worn by men on the head or on the calf in dancing and hunting (Kropf 1915).

Hide, skin or fur formed part of a variety of ornaments worn on ceremonial

occasions. Certain of these ornaments were indicators of status, office or prestige;

others had protective attributes.

Headbands of hide ornamented with much favoured cowrie shells, pieces of

copper, or glass beads were among the wide range of ornaments worn by men in

the Southern Nguni area (see Shaw & Van Warmelo 1988: 664).

Chief Nggika wore a narrow hide headband decorated with black and white

beads sewn in a triangular design (Kay 1833: 42). Apart from richness of orna-

mentation and the exclusive use of leopard skin and ivory, it seems that there was

little distinction between the dress of chiefs and commoners. Very little, however,

is known about the association of particular ornaments or accoutrements with

social status. Carmichael’s (1831: 288) comment that the ‘head ornaments of men

are as varied as they are fanciful. A tuft of hair from the rump of a springbok, a

string of nerite shells, a fillet of monkey skin . . . ’ gives no indication of social

context.

A number of ornaments made entirely or partly of skin are preserved in

museum collections. Headbands (iinquma) made from the tail hair of a monkey

twined together with fibre cord, are said to have been worn by senior Bomvana

men and women (EL 5368, Elliotdale, 1969; DC 1284, no locality or date). The

inquma was also worn by Xhosa headmen, and a Thembu example (Fig. 21) is

recorded as having been worn by women on special occasions.

Skin formed the foundation material for a number of beaded ornaments worn

around legs or arms, and pieces of fur were used as ornaments on cloaks or made

into anklets without any additional adornment. Tassels of skin and tails, especially

from game animals, gave dramatic effect to ceremonial occasions when worn

around the waist, arms or legs (Holden [1866] 1963: 232).

344 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 21. Headband of tail hair; NASKO 35/347, Thembu, Mqanduli, 1935.

Diviners generally wore clothing and ornaments that distinguished them from

the rest of the community. Fur of certain animals and feathers from a variety of

birds formed part of a diviner’s costume. The choice of animal or bird was usually

revealed to the diviner in a dream and was thereafter associated with the calling

of the spirits.

In general, armbands or anklets made from the skin of animals sacrificed to

the ancestors were worn as amulets for curing purposes rather than as decorative

ornaments. The tail hairs from a special ox or cow, the ubulunga beast, associated

with the ancestors, were made into necklets believed to have protective, healing

properties for the wearer and to prevent misfortune.

GENERAL

Burial custom required that the clothes and ornaments of a deceased person

be buried with the body (Holman 1834: 265). In the case of a chief his cloak was

used as a shroud and the cloaks and other possessions of his wives were also

buried (Shaw 1860: 431). The mourners lived in seclusion for some time and

thereafter cattle were slaughtered to provide the skins for new clothing.

CONTAINERS

BAGS

Terms: inxowa—a bag, usually made of the skin of a kid flayed whole; inxili—a bag for pipe

and tobacco worn on the side by women; a bag full of all kinds of goods; itasi—a bag or satchel

carried by a strap over the shoulders (Kropf 1915).

A bag, inxowa (Fig. 22), made from the entire skin of a goat or small buck

with the hair on the inside, was widely used by men for carrying pipes, tobacco

and other personal possessions. As there was a tendency for articles to get lost in

the ‘legs’ of the bag, a pouch for small items was often kept inside the inxowa.

When fieldwork was being done in the late 1960s inxowa bags were still being

made and used. Those of young men tended to be beaded, whereas those of older

men were plain. Application of fat and ochre maintained the bags in a supple

condition.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 345

Fig. 22. Thembu chief carrying an inxowa, c. 1930. (Duggan-Cronin collection,

McGregor Museum.)

Another type of bag, itasi, was made from a number of skins, often small

antelope or wild cat, sewn together with fine thongs or sinew thread. The itasi

always had a shoulder strap, usually made of leather purchased at the local store.

Both men and women used these bags for a variety of personal possessions.

A bag, made from the scrotum of a goat, was used by men as a tobacco pouch

(UCT 23/175, Pondoland, 1923) and small decorative leather purses attached to

belts were used by both men and women for holding money (SAM—989, Herschel,

1908; NASKO 35/343, Mqanduli, 1935; SAM—9398, King William’s Town, 1968).

346 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Diviners used fur bags (Fig. 23), often made from the skins of monkeys, civet

cats or genets, to hold a variety of ingredients for medicines, small horns and

other accoutrements.

Fig. 23. Diviner’s bag; NASKO 656, Mfengu, no date.

MILK-SACKS

Terms: imvaba—leather milk sack with bottle-like neck, in which sweet milk is fermented

and curdled (Kropf 1915).

Throughout the Nguni area sour milk formed an important part of the diet.

Fresh milk was allowed to ferment in either a skin bag or a calabash vessel. Large

milk-sacks were made from oxhides, smaller ones from the skin of a goat, calf or

Fig. 24. Milk-sack; DC 35, Thembu, Transkei, no date.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 347

small buck. The hair was completely removed from the skin, which was carefully

cleaned and cured. The sack (Fig. 24) was generally formed by folding in half a

large piece of skin from the neck end of the animal and stitching it along the edges

of the three open sides, allowing the neck to form the opening of the sack, which

was fitted with a wooden stopper. Within the homestead, milk-sacks were kept

inside the great house, underlining the symbolic association of milk from the herd

with the authority structure of the household.

QUIVERS

Term: ikhohlombe—the case or sheath in which assegais are carried (Kropf 1915).

Quivers for spears were made from unsoftened hide shaped and sewn to form

a cylinder, usually between 300 mm and 700 mm in length (Shaw & Van Warmelo

1981: 326). The base was closed either by sewing the edges together or by insert-

ing and over-sewing a circular piece of hide to plug the opening. A thong or strap

was attached to the other end to facilitate carrying the quiver from the shoulder.

SNUFF-BOXES

Terms: ighaga—snuff-box; any small box or case which is carried on the person (Kropf

LOS):

In the nineteenth century, distinctive snuff-boxes were made from the

scrapings removed during the skin-dressing process. These skin scrapings, called

imbumba yamanyama, were mixed with blood and a little clay to form a thick

paste. The shape of the snuff-box was modelled in clay and allowed to dry in the

sun. The prepared paste was then smeared over the model, which was often in the

form of a small animal. While still soft the surface of the paste was picked over

with a needle to create the impression of hair. After drying, a hole was made in

the surface and the clay removed from the inside. The small container was then

fitted with a stopper (Fleming 1856: 204).

It is not clear when this technique ceased to be used. Few museum specimens

are accurately dated but most date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries.

SHIELDS

Terms: isihlangu—a shield; ingweletshetshe—a small shield used to cover the face in hunting

(Kropf 1915).

Large oval shields (Fig. 25) made of oxhide were used in both warfare and

hunting. Shields could also provide shade from the sun and protection from cold

weather. On occasion they were beaten as drums.

Xhosa war shields were large enough to conceal the body when crouching.

Shields with lengths of up to 1,5 m and width of 0,8 m were mentioned in early

accounts, and their shape was a blunt oval rather than the pointed oval found

east of the Umzimvubu River and further north (Shaw & Van Warmelo 1981:

328-334).

A distinctive feature of shields was the central detailing consisting of vertical

rows of slits through which hide of a contrasting colour was threaded. At the back

thongs attached to these strips held a long stick in position and provided a grip.

348 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 25. Warriors carrying shields in scene from the frontier war, c. 1852, by Baines. Note also

the crane feather head-dresses. (Africana Museum.)

It is probable that differences in the colour of shields or variation in shape

and detailing would have indicated regional or regimental association, but there

is little information on this subject in the historical records. :

With the advent of firearms, hide shields became increasingly obsolete as a

method of defence. By the end of the nineteenth century they had ceased to be

in general use.

Costume shields used on ceremonial occasions have continued to be used to

the present time.

THONGS, BINDINGS AND THREADS

Terms: intambo—a thong, rope, riem; u/utya—a long thong; usinga—thread made from

umsundulo, the tendons found on the underside of an ox’s shoulder-blade (Kropf 1915).

Thongs made from unsoftened hide were used for a variety of purposes,

mainly related to the handling and inspanning of cattle. It is possible that the

method of making thongs by weighting and twisting a strip of hide from a branch

or frame (see pp. 324-325) was learnt from the colonists and practised more

generally after the 1860s, when the use of oxen as draught animals became wide-

spread. The use of thongs for whipcords and for yoking teams of oxen to sledges

and ploughs continues to the present time.

A hide strap was and still is used to tie the back legs of a cow during milking.

According to a Xhosa proverb, inseparable friends are yintambo netunga, 1.e. like

the riem and the milk pail (Kropf 1915: 602). Thongs were also used as bridles and

girths for pack-oxen (Shaw & Van Warmelo 1981, pl. 37).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 349

Thinner cords of dressed skin were used as ties on garments and for sewing

hide sandals and milk-sacks. For finer sewing of skin garments carefully prepared

sinew thread was used (see p. 325).

A section of skin from the tail of a beast was used for attaching a spearhead

to the shaft. The skin ‘sleeve’, put on when wet and flexible, dried hard to give a

secure join. The same method was used to strengthen weak parts of a spear-shaft.

Fine thongs were also used for binding the join between spearhead and shaft.

MISCELLANEOUS

BELLOWS

Term: imfutho—bellows (Kropf 1915).

Goatskins were used for making the air-bags of bellows used by metal smiths.

Moodie (1835: 258) described the bellows as consisting of two goatskins joined at

the neck ends to a tuyere, through which the air passed to the furnace.

INSIGNIA

Term: uwmsila—the tail of an animal; messenger of a chief . . . (Kropf 1915).

The tails of elephant and leopard were royal insignia. When placed on a roof

or attached to a pole, the tails marked the homesteads of chiefs.

A staff bearing the tail of a leopard, and later that of a white ox, was carried

by the messengers of chiefs as a sign of authority (Hunter 1936: 417). So close was

the association of royal messengers with the leopard-tail staff-of-office that they

were referred to as ‘tails’, imisila, when executing official duties such as exacting

fines for misdeeds.

MATS

The cleaned skins of calves, goats and sheep were used as mats for sitting and

sleeping on. Sheepskins were used particularly for babies and, in general, men

tended to use skins for mats (Fig. 26), whereas women used grass mats. Women

diviners, however, used skin mats.

Skin mats were also placed under grinding-stones when snuff or medicines

were being prepared.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Terms: ingqongqo—a dried bullock skin; amanqashele—ankle rattles from goatskin (Kropf

LOS):

An oxhide ‘drum’ or percussion board was used throughout the Southern

Nguni area. The dried hide was stretched out between poles so that the surface

was about a metre above the ground, and the performers beat it with sticks (Kirby

1934: 20). Alternatively a number of women would hold the skin in one hand and

beat it with sticks held in the other, while singing at the same time.

The inggongqo was used primarily to accompany the dancing of initiates, the

hide having come from a bull specially slaughtered for the purpose. Drums were

also beaten to accompany the dancing of diviners and during the initiation of

diviners.

350 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 26. Cleaned goatskins used by men as mats; Libode, Transkei, 1984.

Shields were used as drums by warriors and to accompany certain dances.

According to Kirby (1934: 8), ankle rattles made of goatskin were used by

Xhosa initiates when dancing.

WHISKS

Terms: itshoba—the bushy end of an animal’s tail, wswazi—a switch (Kropf 1915).

The tails of cattle and certain game animals made into whisks are among the

accessories used by diviners to evoke the spirit world. The staff of the whisk is

often decorated with beads.

NATAL NGUNI: SKIN-DRESSING

The processes involved in the preparation of hides and skins from large and

small animals differ according to the relative robustness of the hide. Certain

antelope, such as bushbuck (inkenka), bushduiker (umkhumbi or nsumpe), kudu

(umgankla) and nyala (inxala), were noted for the toughness of their hides (Lugg

1971: 24). Oxhide is stronger than cowhide, which in turn is stronger than calf; the

skin of a stillborn calf is the softest. Goatskin is a firm skin that, although in some

ways comparable with sheepskin, is much stronger (Reed 1972: 43-44).

Drying

The first step in stabilizing a skin is to reduce moisture and inhibit bacterial

activity. Skins were dried for about one day by stretching them flat on the ground,

flesh side up, and pegging them down with small wooden pegs (isikhonkwane)

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY Bill

driven into slits made around the edge of the skin (Champion [1835—9] 1967: 43;

Angas 1849, pl. 21; fieldwork KwaZulu, 1969-71). Once thus cured the hide

could be stored until further work on it was convenient.

Cleaning

For cleaning off any remaining flesh or blood, the cured hide was usually

again pegged to the ground (Champion [1835-9] 1967: 43; fieldwork KwaZulu

1969-71). It could also be stretched and pegged to the ground on either side of a

framework consisting of a cross-bar supported by two approximately metre-high

forked sticks (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 273), or stretched and tied to stout pegs that

raised it off the ground (Vaughan-Kirby 1918: 36-37) (Fig. 27). Some prac-

titioners soaked the skin before starting the process of scraping (-phala) with a

metal axe- or adze-blade (izembe, imbaza) or rough stone, but all kept the skin

moistened while working (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 273; Vaughan-Kirby 1918: 37;

Bryant 1949: 403; Tugela Ferry, 1969). On weak skins, such as sheepskin,

scraping was less vigorous. Scraping also reduced the thickness of the hide. It was

a laborious process that required special skill to avoid damaging the hide with the

sharp metal tools (Reed 1972: 53).

Fig. 27. Skin-worker scraping a stretched skin with an indlwandlwa; Natal, nineteenth century.

(Mariannhill Mission. )

Softening and currying

When cleaned, the flesh side of strong skins and hides was scraped back and

forth with thorny aloe (umhlaba) leaves or with a special spiked tool (indlwandlwa

or isthlabe) consisting of nails bound together or fixed to a wooden base (Fynn

352 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

[1824-61] 1950: 273; Champion [1835-39] 1967: 43; Vaughan-Kirby 1918: 38-39;

Bryant 1949: 403; Ingwavuma, 1970). This process softened the hide and at the

same time produced a fine nap (umsendo). It was turned and pegged again and.

if desired, the hair was scraped off with an adze. A later method recorded was to

apply salt and pluck out the hair by hand (Bergville, 1969). Sheepskin was gen-

erally used with the wool retained.

Further softening treatment involved various substances such as sour milk or

beer dregs, or the crushed kernels of umtunduluku (Ximenia caffra) or inhlakuva

(Ricinus communis), or recently, commercial soap (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 273;

Vaughan-Kirby 1918: 39-40; Bryant 1949: 403; Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk 1962:

39, 101; Berglund 1976: 346; Nongoma, 1971). One of these oily substances was

spread on the hide, which was then rolled up with green leaves and set aside for

a few days to allow absorption in the moist heat. The lipids made the hide more

durable, especially in increasing resistance to water, and more supple, preventing

cracking (Reed 1972: 65-67). Dung was applied to sheepskin and calfskin as a

softening agent. Final softening was done by rubbing (-shuka) the hide in the

hands.

Application of fat and colouring

The use of vegetable and animal fats in the softening process replaced some

of the natural oils in the skin that were lost during drying and cleaning. In addition

milk curds or animal fat, notably pig fat in recent times (Bulwer, Bergville, 1969),

was rubbed into the prepared hide by hand. In some areas colour was applied by

mixing red ochre (cbomvu) with the fat (Mayr 1907: 634). For skirts the hide was

blackened with soot (see p. 364).

Dressing of fur and hair

Special techniques were required to dress fur, which was more delicate than

other skins. No description of these techniques was found in the historical or

ethnographic literature, although the use of monkey and wild-cat skins was often

recorded. In the Bergville area in 1969, a practitioner working with rock-rabbit

(imbila) skins cleaned the pelt by rubbing the flesh side with a stone and washed

the entire skin with soap and water. It was softened by rubbing in the hands, and

coloured by brushing on an infusion of wattle bark. The wattle tree had been

introduced to Natal for its tanning properties. No dung or fats were used to soften

the skin as these would have had a damaging effect on the fur.

Preparation of unsoftened hides

Where durability and rigidity were required the dressing of hides was modi-

fied but some degree of processing was essential to make the hide usable. Oxhide

for shields was treated in the following way. The dried hide was buried in manure

in the cattle byre for about a day (Krige 1950: 402; Bulwer, 1969; Tugela Ferry

and Hlabisa, 1970). In this process, known industrially as ‘bating’, bacterial

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 33)

enzymes act on the hide to clean and make it more flexible (Reed 1972: 55). The

hide was further cleaned by rubbing and beating with stones (Champion [1835-9]

1967: 107; Bulwer, 1969; Tugela Ferry, Melmoth, Nongoma and Hlabisa, 1970).

Thus, while making the hide stable and ready for cutting to shape, the more vig-

orous methods of cleaning and softening were avoided. The hair was cleaned with

a soapy preparation of the plant incukudwane (Ledebouria ovatifolia) (Nongoma,

1971). Once cut and trimmed shields were greased with cattle fat or brains

(Nqutu, 1969; Nongoma, 1970).

To make thongs, an oxhide was cut into a long strip, which was looped

several times over a branch of a tree or the cross-bar of a roughly H-shaped pole

support. The strips were attached to a heavy stone and, by means of a long stick,

were twisted up and then released. This process was repeated intermittently for

about three weeks, by which time the thongs had been stretched and made supple

(Aitchison 1917: 20).

Cutting and sewing

The skin-dresser himself cut away any irregularities in the edges of the hide.

Further cutting and trimming was done by the specialist who made particular

items (Bryant 1949: 404-405).

Sewing was done with twined sinew (usinga) or fig-tree bark fibre (uzu)

(Mayr 1907: 634). A twine was made by hand-rolling the stranded fibres on the

leg. By means of a long thorn (Mayr 1907: 634) or an awl (usungulu), small holes

were made along the edges of the pieces of skin to be joined and the thread was

passed through these (Isaacs [1836] 1970: 308). The completed garment was

sometimes buried in manure to make it soft enough to straighten the seams

(Bergville, 1969).

Practitioners

Most of the processes of skin-dressing were carried out by men (Fynn

[1824-61] 1950: 273; Champion [1835-9] 1967: 43) and, at the time when skins

were commonly used for clothing and other domestic purposes, it is likely that

most men knew and practised the techniques. There was, however, some special-

ization in the preparation of hides. Bryant (1949: 403) noted that the skills of a

specialist (impali), were required at the cleaning stage to avoid damaging the hide

with sharp-edged tools. The specialist generally worked on a hide supplied by the

customer.

For royal and military use, hides were prepared by men at the command of

the king (Webb & Wright 1976: 325) and it is likely that skin clothing for the

regiments was manufactured by appointed craftsmen, as was the case for warriors’

shields (Champion [1935-9] 1967: 107).

Traditionally women were involved in cutting and sewing articles of domestic

clothing (Isaacs [1836] 1970: 308). Recently they have specialized in sewing

married women’s skirts (Bergville, 1969; Mahlabatini, 1970).

354 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

NATAL NGUNI: USES OF SKINS AND HIDES

CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT

APRONS

Terms: ibele—square of skin worn in front; wmnezezo—short skin petticoat worn by

women during menstruation or when at private work; igopho— tasselled fringe of skin worn by

Zulu girls on ceremonial occasions (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

A short frontal apron worn by girls was an indication of their unmarried

status. The apron could be made from cut-off pieces of hide from larger garments,

and consisted of a simple flap of soft skin, or of fringes of skin, vegetable fibre or

beadwork. It varied regionally and with the prevailing fashion (Fynn [1824-61]

1950: 274; Smith [1834-6] 1940: 121; Ludlow 1882: 77). Married women

sometimes wore this apron as an ornament over their skin skirts (Krige 1950:

S72).

Sources consulted were contradictory regarding the use of another skin gar-

ment, umnenezo, which Bryant (1949: 155) described as a ruffle and appropriate

wear for when visiting outside the homestead, while Doke & Vilakazi (1964: 544)

designated it a garment worn in privacy.

BABY-SLINGS

Terms: umbodiya—carrying skin for an infant; imbeleko—carrying skin, used by women

for carrying their babies on their backs; istdiya—carrying skin for an infant (Doke & Vilakazi

1964).

General

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries softened goat, calf or ante-

lope skins were used by mothers and young girls to carry babies on their backs

(Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 302; Krauss [1838-40] 1973: 70; Delegorgue 1847: 326;

Tyler 1891: 149, 150; Plant 1905: 13; Braadvedt 1927: 355). A baby-sling was

often made from the skin of a goat sacrificed to celebrate the birth (Brindley 1985:

107), and sometimes from the breast-covering worn by the mother while pregnant

(Bryant 1949: 611; Krige 1950: 62, 394). When a goat was sacrificed to improve

the health of a sick baby, a carrying-sling was made from the skin of this animal

(Webb & Wright 1982: 129). During the twentieth century, cloth became

increasingly available and replaced skin baby-slings.

Southern Natal

Although goatskin baby-slings (izimbeleko), as described above, were said to

have been largely replaced by cloth versions in the early twentieth century (Mayr

1907: 635), practices regarding goatskin baby-slings were still being recorded in

the 1930s. They were made from the skins of goats sacrificed by the maternal and

paternal grandparents at the birth of a child. Christian converts sold these skins

and bought cloth for the same purpose (Kohler 1933: 98, 99). Should a child die,

the imbeleko was not destroyed but kept to discourage despair (Mayr 1907: 643;

Doke & Vilakazi 1964: 72).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 355

BREAST-COVERINGS

Terms: uwmbodiya—skin covering for the breasts; ingcayi/isigcayi—leather or other cover-

ing worn by women to cover the breasts and abdomen when first married or when pregnant:

isidiva—skin covering for concealing the breasts (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

A supple covering of antelope skin, particularly rietbuck or duiker, was worn

by newly married and pregnant women (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 274; Lebzelter

1934: 278; Bryant 1949: 610). It was customary for a young wife to cover her chest

as a sign of respect for her husband’s family (Samuelson 1929: 367). The garment

was tied under the arms across the breast, reaching below the knees, and was

worn with the hair outwards. The hair was removed from a broad central panel,

which was decorated with metal beads or studs, as was the lower edge (Fynn

[1824-61] 1950: 274; Shooter 1857, pl. 3) (Figs 28A, B).

The choice of antelope skin was significant because of the association of the

animal with swiftness and grace (Tyrrell 1968: 122; Brindley 1985: 101). However,

a taboo on eating antelope meat was observed to avoid a difficult birth (Bryant

1949: 611). Because of restricted availability of game skins, goatskin has replaced

their use.

A similar garment was described by Isaacs ({1836] 1970: 303, pl. facing

p. 192) as worn by women of status at ceremonial occasions, but this is uncon-

firmed by other sources.

Fig. 28. A. Woman wearing a skin breast-covering; Natal, nineteenth century. (Mariannhill

Mission.) B. Antelope-skin breast-covering; NM 1999, Zululand, 1912.

356 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

CLOAKS

Terms: isibaceko—cape, small covering for the shoulder; isidwenga—buckskin blanket;

umgaxo—. . . hood of a skin blanket; umaqapheqolo—woman’s kaross for every day; ingubo

—cloak, covering for the body (of any kind); leathern robe, worn by men or women;

umnqwamba—anything worn draped over the shoulders, e.g. witch-doctor’s leather cloak;

isiphuku—skin blanket, kaross; isighama/o—skin blanket, kaross; usu—. . . soft goatskin cloak,

worn by women; uvuthubuthu—very large blanket, double blanket; uwambalala/uwam-

bazi—very large blanket (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

General

Cloaks were worn by men, women and children as protection against the

cold, and were used as blankets at night. Women’s cloaks, often referred to by

early writers as ‘kaross’, had many functions. They could be worn as skirts, or tied

under the arms and around the waist to serve as baby-slings. The cloaks were

made of supple cowhide, with the hair either retained or removed.

Cowhide cloaks were also used by men and, even after these had largely been

replaced by cloth blankets, their use resumed on ritual occasions (Bleek [1855-6]

IPepe A).

As early as the 1850s, commercial cotton and woollen blankets were com-

monly replacing skin cloaks (Shooter 1857: 9), while Zulu kings had had access to

trade cloth even earlier (Champion [1835-9] 1967: 32).

Goatskin cloaks (izinsu) had the hair removed only from a central band down

the back and were worn by women (Bryant 1949: 169). Diviners wore cloaks

made of goatskin (Webb & Wright 1976: 48) or black sheepskin (Schlosser

19725194):

During the winter, herdboys wore cloaks of sheepskin with the wool turned

inwards (Aitchison 1917: 13).

Cloaks of wild-cat skin were worn by soldiers of rank (Arbousset & Daumas

1842: 146; Farber 1879: 110) and by the king’s praise-singer (Gardiner 1836: 56,

pl. facing p. 59). These were possibly a thick fringe of tails or twisted strips of pelt

rather than a solid sewn fabric. Unlike the Southern Nguni custom, the use of

leopard skin does not seem to have been exclusive to chiefs.

Commoners were buried wrapped in their skin cloaks, or later in blankets

(Arbousset & Daumas 1842: 138; Bryant 1949: 700).

Drakensberg area

A Negwane skin-worker practising in the Bergville area in 1969 made blankets

or cloaks of rock-rabbit (imbila) skins sewn together. The pelts were supplied by

himself or by the prospective owner.

Southern Natal

Cattle-hide cloaks, iziphuku, used in this area were well greased, and some-

times ochred red. Cloth substitutes were adopted soon after contact with traders

(Mayr 1907: 634).

At the annual First Fruits ceremonies baboon skins were hung around the

shoulders of the chiefs, forming a type of cloak (Lugg 1929: 372).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 2)5)//

HEAD-DRESSES

Terms: ibeqe—strip of dry skin of blue monkey or genet, worn dangling on each side of the

head before the ears, as warriors full-dress ornament at feasts, etc.; umghele—. . . ornament (of

beads or otter skin) worn encircling the head as a sign of rank, or by Zulu warriors (Doke &

Vilakazi 1964).

General

A special form of head-dress was part of the distinctive dress of each regi-

ment. Feathers and cow tails were attached to an umghele, a circlet of skin padded

with bulrush heads or dry dung (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 284), which was worn fairly

low on the brow and tied at the back of the head. Otter skin was worn by many

regiments, and also by the’king, since the otter was considered a royal animal

(Krige 1950: 206; Webb & Wright 1979: 223; 1982: 318). Leopard skin was also

used (Norbury 1880: 183; Samuelson 1929: 238).

The ibeqge head-dress consisted of flaps or squares of monkey or leopard skin

attached to the headband and which hung down over the cheeks or down the back

of the head (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 284; Angas 1849, pl. 20; AFR 72/4430, Non-

goma, 1972).

In the nineteenth century these elaborate and distinctive items were worn by

men in full military dress. Nowadays they are worn, especially by important politi-

cal figures, at festive ceremonial occasions.

Southern Natal

In the 1930s, a fur cap was usually part of the courting finery worn by young

Khuze and Bhaca men (Kohler 1933: 20). Young girls of marriageable age wore

a padded soft skin headband, umgokoloza, on the forehead to keep their dressed

hair out of their eyes (Kohler 1933: 100, 101). A soft piece of goatskin was worn

over the head by a young Khuze or Bhaca bride to show respect to her husband’s

relatives (see Fig. 12), but by the 1930s this was often replaced by a black cloth

(Kohler 1933: 91, 101).

Baboon and silver (vervet) monkey-skin caps were worn by chiefs at First

Fruits ceremonies (Lugg 1929: 372, 374).

LOIN-COVERINGS

Terms: ibele—square of skin worn in front; umbelenja—square of skin worn hanging as

frontal dress (in place of the isinene by men . . .); amabege (pl.)—tasselled rear dress of strips

of blue monkey skin, worn by men; ibeshu—skin buttock covering worn by men, the rear part

of the umutsha . . .; umdada—long rear skin worn by men; idlaka—man’s loin covering when

made of genet skin or other materials stripped or slit down but not twisted; udlavini—long front

skin covering; igqgibo—man’s loin covering made of long pieces of twisted skin, hanging in tails;

uhayo—loin girdle; injobo—a strip of wild cat’s skin forming the loin covering of a. . . man;

(pl. only)—bunches of cat’s tails worn on either side; umadimana—bunch of twisted sheepskin

worn with ibeshu at hips; isinene—frontal part of man’s loin covering composed of tassels of soft

twisted leather; isiphenama—coil of leather, with edges turned down, at the top of [a] . . . loin

skin; igophela—loin skin with soft tassels; umqubula—dancing apparel presented by the Zulu

king to favourite warriors, consisting of three girdles of blue monkey tails; isithinti—loin covering

of soft tassels; isitobo—loin girdle of cat’s tails; umutsha—man or girl’s loin covering of skin or

fibre (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

358 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

General

Men’s loin-dress varied in detail, as indicated by the many terms, but the

basic form of front- and back-aprons is consistent in the descriptions in the litera-

ture for the nineteenth and even twentieth centuries (Fig. 29).

Fig. 29. Men in skin loin-coverings, showing the cattlehide ibeshu and twisted tails of the isinene

and izinjobo; Natal, nineteenth century. (Mariannhill Mission.)

During the reign of Shaka (1816-28), the common loin-dress was of furry

wild-cat and monkey tails reaching to about the knees, longer at the back than the

front (Gardiner 1836: 101). The same style, sometimes using genet skin, con-

tinued in Mpande’s period (1839-72) (Delegorgue 1847: 220-221). The use of a

square of skin as a back-apron (ibeshu) was adopted in Cetshwayo’s reign

(1872-9) (Webb & Wright 1982: 166), although the fringe of ‘tails’ continued to

be worn (Fig. 30). By the late nineteenth century, trousers were being worn by

some men, but the front fringe (/sinene) was retained and even worn over trousers

(Joest 1885: 482). Skin loin-coverings were worn as everyday dress well into the

twentieth century and are sometimes still worn when courting and as part of cer-

emonial dress (KwaZulu Cultural Centre, C 172, Msinga, 1985).

Dressed calfskin was most commonly used for the back-apron (ibeshu)

(Fig. 31). The skin was cut in half cross-wise and the legs were trimmed. Over-

lapping short pieces of skin were sewn to the top straight side and folded over to

form a firm waistband, isiphenama (Bryant 1949: 405). For the front (isinene) or

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 359

Fig. 30. Portrait of Cetshwayo and ?Dinizulu wearing skin loin-coverings; late nineteenth

century.

side tassels (izinjobo) (Fig. 32A), hairy or soft furry skin was cut into long narrow

strips. By various methods these were carefully cut and twisted to give the furry

appearance of animal tails (Fig. 32B). One skin-dresser divided the hair on these

into small clumps and tied them with thong. In some cases the tassels were only

twisted and not sewn (Nongoma, 1971).

The dress of kings differed from that of commoners only in the richness and

choice of the skins used. Shaka wore fringes of genet and blue monkey skins

(Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 74; Webb & Wright 1976: 97), and Dingane and Mpande

wore tails of monkey skin (Champion [1835-9] 1967: 35; Krauss [1838-40] 1973:

69). Silver jackal skin for the front-apron and genet skin for the back were worn

360 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 31. Zulu men and boys wearing calfskin back-aprons, c. 1930. (Duggan-Cronin collection,

McGregor Museum.)

by Cetshwayo (Webb & Wright 1979: 223). These were all valued skins, often

collected as tribute from subject Tsonga (Webb & Wright 1976: 67, 238, 322).

During the reigns of Dingane, Mpande and Cetshwayo, leopard-skin loin-

dresses were reserved for men of rank, councillors and warriors (Webb & Wright

1976: 46, 323). However, Shaka obliged old deposed chiefs to wear a monkey-

skin loin-dress similar in shape to skirts worn by women (Fynn [1824-61] 1950:

285). His izimbongi or praise-singers also wore cattle-hide loin-coverings shaped

like women’s skirts and reaching to the knees (Webb & Wright 1979: 177; 1982:

87). Diviners in the early twentieth century wore leopard and genet skin loin-

coverings (Bryant 1909: 3).

Different military divisions were characterized by their distinctive dress as

well as by their shields. In the first half of the nineteenth century, thick knee-

length fringes of monkey and genet skins, cut into strips and twisted to resemble

tails, were attached to a waistband and worn as front- and back-coverings (Fynn

[1824-61] 1950: 89; Gardiner 1836: 101). War uniforms were also worn for cer-

emonial dances. In the 1870s, men in Cetshwayo’s regiments danced in loin-

dresses of long-haired white goat and black sheepskin as well as genet (Webb &

Wright 1979: 242). The umqubulo dress, which almost covered the entire body,

was a special presentation by the king to favoured soldiers. From twenty to sixty

strips of twisted monkey and genet skins were hung in three thick fringes around

the neck, waist and buttocks (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 285; Webb & Wright 1976: 46,

52). An Angas (1849, pl. 15) drawing shows, in addition to the furry strips, a small

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 361

back-apron. However, one of Cetshwayo’s followers in the 1850s stated that back-

aprons were not worn for dancing (Webb & Wright 1979: 242).

A %

Fig. 32. A. Twisted strips of fur forming ‘tails’ of the isinene; SAM-11996, Hlazagazi, 1981.

B. One method of cutting and twisting ‘tails’; SAM-—10060, Nongoma, 1971.

Southern Natal

Men in this area adopted the custom of covering the loins from the Zulu.

Formerly only a fringe of plant fibre or a penis sheath was worn. Their later

everyday loin-dresses were of goatskin and special ones, for dancing, were of

mongoose and genet skins (Webb & Wright 1979: 131). At the First Fruits cer-

emonies, loin-coverings of silver monkey, civet cat and baboon skins were worn

by chiefs (Lugg 1929: 372, 373).

PENIS-SHEATHS

Terms: isichibi—penis covering of soft skin worn in Zululand in Dingane’s time;

inkhathanga—skin prepuce cover for boys; isiziba—leather penis sheath (Doke & Vilakazi

1964).

In the early nineteenth century, penis-sheaths made of soft oxhide or plaited

plant material were generally worn by men under the isinene (Fynn [1824-61]

1950: 293; Krauss [1834-40] 1969: 211). The use of penis-sheaths continued even

after the practice of circumcision had been stopped by Shaka.

362 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

SANDALS

Terms: isicathulo—shoe, boot, sandal (originally applied to Native leather sandals, used by

warriors when travelling long distances . . . ); inyathelo—sandal (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

General

Sandals, worn to protect the feet of warriors on the march, were later for-

bidden by Shaka because he believed they slowed movement (Delegorgue 1847:

218). The stigma of wearing sandals continued during the Zulu war in the late

nineteenth century (Webb & Wright 1982: 326).

Southern Natal

Sandals, consisting of a sole of oxhide tied to the foot with three skin straps,

were sometimes worn when crossing rough or hot terrain (Mayr 1907: 638).

SKIRTS

Terms: ingcuku—large skin dress worn about the loins by women in the interior; ingubo—

. . covering for the body of any kind . . .; isidwaba—short skin petticoat, women’s leather kilt

worn from waist to knees; isikhakha—married woman’s leather petticoat; isikhindi—. . . short

skirt; wmqulu—. . . rolled up part of a skin petticoat (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

General

The skin skirts worn in the first half of the nineteenth century were of two

types and apparently differed according to the status of the wearer and to the

occasion.

Fig. 33. Woman wearing knee-length skirt. (Shooter 1857.)

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 363

A short skirt (Fig. 33) tied at the waist and reaching the knee was the usual

dress of women (Isaacs [1836] 1970: 303; Gardiner 1836: 100; Shooter 1857: 6;

Webb & Wright 1976: 38).

Long skirts with two wide trains nearly a metre long reaching on to the

ground (Fig. 34) were worn by women of rank for ceremonies and dances (Fynn

[1824-61] 1950: 274; Isaacs [1836] 1970: 303, pl. facing p. 192; Shooter 1857: 9).

They were sometimes decorated at the waist with brass beads (Gardiner

1836: 63).

Fig. 34. Woman wearing long skirt with train. (Isaacs 1836.)

The ingubo, usually a cloak (see p. 356), could be worn as a skirt, tied at the

waist with the excess hide rolled up. The length indicated the status of the wearer

(Delegorgue 1847: 226).

In the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the use of

the longer trained skirt was not recorded. Bryant (1949: 152) suggested that it

became obsolete during Mpande’s reign (1839-72). Knee-length skin skirts,

sometimes flared by the addition of shaped panels, were still worn (Fig. 35). How-

ever the skirt, isidwaba, currently considered ‘traditional’, with many inserted

skin panels giving a pleated effect (Fig. 36), was not documented in the literature

of this period.

364 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 35. Group of Natal Nguni women. On the left, a married woman wearing a flared skirt.

(Mariannhill Mission. )

Half an ox- or cowhide usually provided the material for a skirt (Grout 1862:

105; Bryant 1949: 152), but goatskin was also used (Tugela Ferry, 1969). The

hides of adult male animals produced the longest pile (Vaughan-Kirby 1918: 40).

The tools, namely aloe leaves and the spiky indhlwandlwa, that were used to clean

skins had the effect of roughening the inner surface. In order to raise a pile on

skins for skirts this scraping was exaggerated and, in addition, the skin could be

beaten with a light switch. The hair was removed and the skin was softened and

greased. The hide was then cut to shape. Leaving a deep waistband that was worn

rolled over several times, the rest of the hide was cut to allow the insertion of

wedge-shaped panels (umthozo). For simply flared skirts only a few panels were

added (NM 702, Natal, 1906). To achieve the ‘pleated’ effect the entire width of

the hide was cut into strips about 5 cm wide and a shaped panel was stitched to

each of these (Figs 37, 38). To give the deep black colour, imbecelo, a mixture

of charcoal or ashes with water or fat, was rubbed in (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 273;

Tugela Ferry, 1969; Ingwavuma, 1970). The completed skirt might be scented by

rubbing in a powder made from sweet-smelling plants, such as umtomboti

(Spirostachys africanus), umgxamu (Schotia brachypetala) or isigcence (Heeria

paniculosa) (Bryant 1949: 405).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 365

Fig. 36. Zulu woman wearing a skin skirt with ‘pleated’ effect; Mahlabatini, 1971.

The wearing of a skin skirt was associated with marriage. Sources vary as to

whether the skirt was put on when a girl was betrothed (Plant 1905: 39; Samuel-

son, 1929: 358; Bryant 1949: 541), or when the bride appeared in public at the

wedding ceremony (Braadvedt 1927: 557; Krige 1950: 135, 141, 148). It indicated

married status and was considered a mark of respect, hlonipa, for her husband’s

family (Bryant 1949: 541).

It was customary during war for women to turn their skirts inside out so that

the nap was on the outside (Webb & Wright 1982: 326; Krige 1950: 277). The skirt

was also reversed at the death of a husband (Berglund 1976: 369-370). When a

women died a small piece of her skirt was cut and placed in her mouth (Braadvedt

1949: 186), while the skirt and other personal possessions were usually buried with

her.

During the last decade of the nineteenth century, Cetshwayo’s daughters

were instructed by Dinizulu to wear European clothing (Webb & Wright 1982:

119). However, the use of the hide isidwaba has continued, encouraged by reviv-

alist churches and nationalism.

ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

366

nin

Zoe

————

-_ =

(LULL

Y33% |

‘

HANK

_. sims

ae Tt

} :

showing the

B. Unfinished right side

A. Wrong side of isidwaba, with stitched panels.

Sif.

Fig.

‘pleated’ effect.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 367

Fig. 38. Hide cut to make a skin skirt, isidwaba; Bergville, 1969. Showing deep waistband,

narrow strips, wide wedge-shaped panels, and sinew thread for sewing.

Drakensberg area

In 1969 Ngwane skin-workers made skirts for Ngwane and Zizi customers on

the same pattern as the Zulu isidwaba.

Southern Natal

Formerly skirts of ox- or cowhide, or goatskin, were long and reached to the

ankles, according to a contemporary of Cetshwayo’s from the Umlazi area (Webb

& Wright 1982: 61). Later Bhaca skirts were about knee-length and consisted of

separate broad front and rear panels of goatskin, about 70 cm long and 60 cm

wide, with the hair removed except for narrow bands at either side. They were

tied at the waist with thongs or cord (NM 996, Natal, 1909; Campbell MM 1823,

Richmond, 1979; Bulwer, 1969).

By the early twentieth century, knee-length skirts (isidwaba) made of black-

ened ox- or goathide in the same style as those worn in Zululand, were being worn

by married women (Mayr 1907: 636). The wearing of skirts was one of the hlonipa

practices by which women showed respect to their husbands’ kin (Kohler

1933: 94).

ORNAMENTS

In the Natal Nguni area skins from both game and domestic animals have

been put to ornamental use. In most cases the particular skin used reflected the

social position of the wearer. Table 1 summarizes the recorded skin ornaments.

Diviner’s costume was made up of skins of special symbolic significance.

ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

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SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 369

Fig. 39. Zulu praise-singers’ costumes. (Gardiner 1836.)

Fig. 40. Twisted calfskin waist ornament; SAM-10059, Nongoma, 1971.

CONTAINERS

BAGS

Terms: imbaluko—long pouch made of the skin of young calf, used for carrying a snuff-

box; imfutho/umfutho—. .. small bag made of skin (for carrying a doctor’s medicines, food,

etc.); umgodlo—. . . containing bag . . .; ingogo—skin bag (used for carrying foodstuffs);

inhlanti/umhlanti—small skin bag (as used by a doctor for carrying instruments and medicines);

ikhukhu—. . . pouch, small bag; isikhwama—any small bag, purse, pocket, pouch; incweba—

small skin bag containing medicines or charms and worn with others on a string round the neck;

ingqaba—small skin bag of medicines and charms worn round the neck; inqalaba—small skin

bag; ingqalathi—skin bag; umxhaka—skin bag; iyika—bag, sack (Doke & Vilakazi 1964);

intlanti—skin sack (Bryant 1949: 271).

370 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Diviners used bags (imfutho, inhlanti, incweba, ingqaba) to hold their medi-

cines and charms (Krige 1950: 309). Sometimes the bag was carried by specially

appointed boys, who also prepared the medicines (Schlosser 1972: 13).

The entire skin of an unborn or young calf was used to make a bag, imbaluko,

in which a snuff-box was carried (Bryant 1909: 3). Old women wrapped their snuff

in a roll made of the soft skin from the belly of an ox (Bryant 1949: 224).

Skin bags were also used to transport grain or other food.

Milk sacks about 30 cm long and 18 cm wide, with a small mouth, were made

of cowhide, which was moistened with water and stuffed with earth and dung, and

left to dry and harden. These were used for sour milk before the introduction of

calabashes, said to have been made by Shaka (Lebzelter 1934: 273; Bryant

1949: 271).

QUIVERS

Terms: isambo—quiver for carrying assegais on the back . ; umgodla/o—leather weapon

holder; umkhohlombe—quiver, for carrying assegais on the back when mounted; Lop na—

leather sheath for assegais and other weapons (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

Zululand

Sheaths for spears were recorded during the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 (Nor-

bury 1880: 279). A hide quiver collected at this period is a tapering sheath, about

50 cm in length and § cm at the widest part (MVB III.D. 478, Natal, 1881).

Southern Natal

A quiver for spears, said to have been amongst the arms of the Hlubi chief

Langalibalele captured in 1873, is a narrow tapering bag of stiff hide, stitched with

fine thong. The carrying strap is repaired with a section of manufactured leather

belt (SAM-—6647, Lesotho Border, 1947) (Fig. 41).

Fig. 41. Quiver for spears, allegedly belonging to the Hlubi chief, Langalibalele; SAM—6647,

Lesotho Border, 1947.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 371

SHIELDS

Terms: isaphulo—. . . small shield used by bridegroom’s party at a wedding dance;

umbumbuluzo—large war shield; umdlela/o—small shield, smaller than isihlangu; igabelo—one

of the strips of skin interlaced lengthwise into the slits cut down the middle of a shield;

umgabelo—cross-strips of hide, or pattern of cross-strips inserted down the middle of a shield;

igcokwe—small shield used in dressing up for courting; iggokwe—shield, object of defence,

protection; /hawu—general term for a shield . . . small shield, used at dances or when travelling;

isthlangu—large war shield; ihubelo—large shield, used in hunting or fighting; inguba—shield;

ingungumela—broad shield; inkwaqa—battle shield; wmsila—. . . fur trimmed end of the stick

of a shield; itoto—pattern of slits lengthwise in a shield (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

Shields were used for defence in war and the hunt, and as accessories on

festive occasions. They were of a pointed oval shape and varied in size according

to function. The large war shield, isithlangu, measured from the chin to the feet of

the bearer and was twice the body width (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 285), that is,

about 150 cm long by 90 cm wide (Holden [1866] 1963: 250; Delegorgue 1847:

220). After Cetshwayo’s battle for succession in 1856, a slightly shorter shield

(umbumbuluzo), which was easier to handle, came into more general use

(Samuelson 1929: 237, 309).

During the reigns of the Zulu kings, war shields were made from hide pro-

vided by the king’s herds of cattle (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 284; Gardiner 1836: 47;

Bleek [1855-6] 1965: 74; Webb & Wright 1976: 61). Oxhide was preferred and fat

animals provided the best hides (Krige 1950: 402). The side of the animal which

received the stab wound was favoured (Webb & Wright 1979: 215). Shaka and

Dingane used hides from the herds of Jobe, a chief near the Mzinyati (Buffalo)

River (Webb & Wright 1976: 324, 1979: 60).

From the 1830s to 1970s, descriptions of the preparation of hides follow the

same basic steps of pegging, drying and softening. From one oxhide a specialist

cutter could make two shields (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 285; Gardiner 1836: 47;

Champion [1835-9] 1967: 107). He also cut the two lines of horizontal slits

through which strips (imigabelo) of cattle hide, usually of contrasting colour, were

threaded. These reinforced the centre of the shield (Bryant 1949: 406) and were

decorative. The cutting was judged by eye, although some shield-makers used a

finished shield to mark the outline (Nongoma, 1970). The horizontal slits also

secured short loops of twisted skin, which formed the handle, and broader skin

strips folded to form triangular shapes, through which a stick was inserted

(Fig. 42A, B). The stick, which was slightly longer than the shield, served to

maintain the shape and rigidity of the shield. At the top it was decorated with a

tuft of furry genet (insimba) skin or cow tail, or feathers (Fynn [1824-61] 1950:

285; Champion [1835-9] 1967: 107; Holden [1866] 1963: 250; Ludlow 1882: 35;

Hlabisa, 1970). A new shield was flattened with heavy stones or by sleeping on it

(Nqutu, Bulwer, Bergville, 1969; Tugela Ferry, 1970).

The colour of the hide used for their shields was often the distinguishing mark

of the different regiments (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 89; Delegorgue 1847: 400-401;

Holden [1866] 1963: 250; Stuart 1913: 74; Samuelson 1929: 237). However,

shields of more than one colour were used by certain regiments (Stuart 1913: 74;

Webb & Wright 1982: 319) indicating that this was not the primary distinctive

3 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

HTN

“eater “deen

ee Go

“ite eens

ee eee

‘ee pee

A beiice, 6

Fig. 42. A. Zulu shield, with decoration of contrasting skin; SAM-9978, Hlabisa, 1970.

Length 800 mm. B. Back view showing twisted skin handle and stick in position.

feature of the uniform. The older men had shields of a light colour and the less

experienced young men had darker shields (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 284). Cattle

captured from the enemy were sorted according to colour and allotted to the vari-

ous regiments to use as food and to provide shields of appropriate colouring (Fynn

[1824-61] 1950: 284). It was considered most offensive to carry the shield of a

regiment to which one did not belong (Webb & Wright 1976: 303). The shields of

the Zulu kings from Shaka to Cetshwayo were usually described as white with a

black patch (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 75; Webb & Wright 1976: 46, 248, 326; 1979:

60, 223), but also sometimes as black with a white patch to the side (Webb &

Wright 1976: 6; 1979: 60, 243).

War shields were stored by the king in special structures on stilts to protect

them from vermin. They were periodically aired and shaken out (Champion

[1835-9] 1967: 31-32; Webb & Wright 1976: 234). Before a campaign, regiments

would come to the capital to collect their shields (Gardiner 1836: 47). On the

march and while far from the enemy, the men carried their shields rolled up (Fynn

[1824-61] 1950: 123), and slept on them at night (Webb & Wright 1976: 124). In

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 373

battle Shaka noted specially brave men by the turning movements of their shields,

which indicated that they were fighting on all sides (Webb & Wright 1976: 7).

After a battle, kinsmen or friends would cover the bodies of the slain with their

shields (Webb & Wright 1982: 318).

Kings were protected from the sun by a shield held by a bearer, who moved

carefully to keep the king shaded (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 27; Webb & Wright 1976:

47; Angas 1849, pl. 11).

Besides the large war shields and the shields used when hunting, there were

smaller shields that were men’s personal property and were carried when travel-

ling, visiting, or at dances (Smith [1831-2] 1955: 51; Holden [1866] 1963: 250). A

very small shield, iggoka, about 30 cm by 20 cm, was carried by courting youths

(Samuelson 1929: 309). At weddings small shields were beaten to accompany

singing and dancing (Delegorgue 1847: 229-230; Holden [1866] 1963: 75,

234-235). They were still used on these occasions in the 1970s (Hlabisa, 1970).

Small shields were carried by male and female diviners (Shooter 1857: 174;

Miller 1907, pls 6-8).

THONGS AND BINDINGS

Terms: umchilo—rope, cord or leather riem; wmdwishi—long strip (as of cloth or hide);

umnsalela—. . . belt, thong for tying; ughotho—triem, dry thong; umtilikisho—smooth thong;

inkhulathi—leather binding placed over the junction of the assegai head and shaft (Doke &

Vilakazi 1964).

As a means of securing objects, thongs had many uses. The inspanning of

cattle, after the introduction of the plough in the nineteenth century, created a

greater demand for thongs for use in yoking equipment. Terms for these are

derived from Afrikaans, for example, isitiiobo—strap for fixing skeys to the yokes

(from Afrikaans strop), and itilensi—riem joining yoke of oxen to pulling chain

(from Afrikaans trens).

To fix a spearhead, the tang inserted in the shaft was very often secured by

placing a section of wet, fresh calf- or oxtail over the joint. This was bound with

string or glued to ensure a tight fit when the skin had dried and shrunk (Krige

1950: 210; Mahlabatini and Nongoma, 1970; Babanango, 1971).

MISCELLANEOUS

BELLOWS

Terms: imfutho/isifutho/umfutho—native blacksmith’s bellows; isivuthelo—bellows (Doke

& Vilakazi 1964).

For smelting and the smithing of metal, the fire in the furnace was kept

burning fiercely by means of pairs of skin bellows. Several pairs were used simul-

taneously for smelting (Gibson 1911: 6).

Well-softened oxhide, perhaps from an old kaross (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 272;

Fleming 1856: 227), or soft goat or antelope skin (Holden [1866] 1963: 242;

NASKO 4464, Piet Retief, 1914) was sewn into a bag of roughly rectangular shape

with a small opening at one lower corner for a nozzle. On each side of the open

374 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 43. Smith using a pair of goatskin bellows; Tugela Ferry, 1970.

top two sticks were sewn. The bellows worker pumped the two bags up and down

alternately (Fig. 43) and, by manipulating the sticks, allowed air into the bag on

the upstroke and closed it on the downstroke, forcing air through the nozzle to the

furnace (Fynn [1824-61] 1950: 272; Delegorgue 1847: 32; Angas 1849, pl. 23).

BLANKETS

Softened cattle hides were used as blankets (Webb & Wright 1976: 323, 324),

as were goatskins sewn together (Bryant 1949: 700).

DOORS

A hide might serve as a door, closing the entrance to a hut (Krauss [1839-40]

1969: 209).

MATS

Terms: isibege/isibeqeza—broad, flat object (as . . . small skin sleeping mat . . .) (Doke &

Vilakazi 1964).

Mats of cowskin, goatskin and other unspecified skins prepared simply by

drying and cleaning, were used, as well as plant-fibre mats for sitting and sleeping

on (Bleek [1855-6] 1965: 74; Little 1887: 443; Tugela Ferry, 1970).

Dingane is recorded as having used leopard and lion skins as mats (Webb &

Wright 1976: 323).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY By

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Terms: isigubu—. . . double-headed drum, of hollowed wood with stretched skin heads,

played with two padded sticks; ingungu—friction drum made by straining a goatskin over a clay

pot... (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

The double-headed percussion drum (isigubu), made of wood with calf- or

goatskin stretched across the ends and laced together with thongs, is thought to be

derived from the European military drum as this type of drum is not a traditional

Nguni instrument (Kirby 1934: 45). It is used to accompany dancing (Bergville,

1969) and has become associated with Zionist Church groups.

The earlier friction drum (ingungu) consisted of a clay, calabash or wooden

vessel over the mouth of which goatskin, with the hair removed, was stretched

and secured by a lacing of thongs. By running moistened fingers up and down a

reed held vertically on the skin head a roaring sound was produced. It was played

at girls’ puberty ceremonies held formerly, but no longer observed in the 1920s

(Kirby 1934: 26-28).

SHROUDS

After death, the body was bent into a sitting position and bound. Kings were

wrapped in several layers of wet oxhide from specially killed beasts (Samuelson

1912: 17; 1929: 291; Webb & Wright 1976: 42). The heads of dead chiefs were

wrapped in sheepskin, which—according to Lugg (1929: 369)—was associated

with mourning.

Formerly the remains of commoners were not buried, but later they were

buried wrapped in their skin cloaks (see p. 356).

SLINGS

Terms: indwayimana—leather sling used by Zulus to drive birds from the fields;

imbalimahu—leather sling for stone throwing (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

No information other than the terms was found. Lindblom (1940: 29) sug-

gested that the use of the sling was learnt from white farm children but the terms

seem to contradict this.

WHIPS

Terms: isampokwe—sjambok, thick strip of hippopotamus hide used as a whip;

umcilikisho—finely tapering sjambok; neatly made whip; insilane—whip; isiswebu—whip,

wagon whip; umvubu—hippo hide sjambok (Doke & Vilakazi 1964).

Like the use of thongs for yoking cattle (see p. 373), the use of hide for whips

probably accompanied the inspanning of cattle. Some of the terms are derived

from Afrikaans. Hippopotamus and giraffe hide were especially valued for whip-

making (Lugg 1971: 24).

WHISKS

Whisks were made of a section of cattle or antelope tail, with the tail hair

fixed to a short stick. They were carried by diviners (Shooter 1857: 174; Miller

1907, pls 6-8).

376 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

SWAZI: SKIN-DRESSING

No historical account of skin-dressing was found in the literature and the

following general description is from contemporary practices recorded in Man-

kaiana in 1971.

Drying

The fresh wet hide was pegged out to dry with small wooden pegs. If the

narrow skin from the leg areas was required to be kept flat, small reeds of the

proper length were positioned across to keep this skin open (Fig. 44).

Z EE

ee Eee

Fig. 44. Skin from the leg area kept flat during drying by means of little reeds; Mankaiana, 1971.

Cleaning

Any remaining flesh was cleaned off with an adze.

Softening

Next the hide or skin was softened by rubbing with a rough stone, while

moistening with water. Further softening was done by rubbing in putrified cattle

brain, sometimes mixed with sour milk. This was left on the skin for two days and

then cleaned off in cold water. The prepared hide was dried slowly, with

occasional rubbing to keep it supple.

Application of fat and colouring

Some fat was supplied by the brain and milk applied for softening.

Women’s skirts were blackened by rubbing in soot.

Preparation of unsoftened hides

To make the ubiquitously useful hide thongs, a long strip was cut from a hide,

suspended from a branch and stretched and softened by weighting and twisting.

Practitioners

Skin-dressing was done by men. The basic methods of preparing, cutting and

sewing skins were known by most men, but the expertise of those especially

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY Sia

skilful—for example, at scraping a hide or cutting shields—was sought by those

wishing to have work done. This limited specialization might have been passed on

within families (Kuper 1947: 140).

SWAZI: USES OF SKINS AND HIDES

CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT

APRONS

Young Swazi girls wore aprons of plant-fibre or cloth. Skin aprons were not

mentioned in twentieth-century records but may have been used formerly (Mar-

wick 1940: 86; Kuper 1947: 135).

BABY-SLINGS

Term: imbeleko—baby-sling (Engelbrecht 1930: 21).

Babies were carried tied to the back in a soft skin. The type of skin varied

according to rank in Swazi society. Commoners used the soft skin of a goat

slaughtered for the mother to celebrate the birth of the child (Marwick 1940: 147;

Kuper 1947: 76). According to Kuper (1947: 76), babies of the royal clan were

carried in the skin of a duiker (umsumphe), and the future king was carried in

silver (vervet) monkey skin; this animal was associated with virility and long life.

BREAST-COVERINGS

Term: sidziya—breast-covering (Mankaiana, 1971).

This covering of goatskin had the hair removed from a central panel, and was

worn hair-side out (Fig. 45). It was made for a young bride by her father and was

worn as a sign of respect for her father-in-law. Initially it was tied under the arms

but once she had a child, she could wear it tied over the right shoulder only

(Marwick 1940: 101, 119; Kuper 1947: 136; Mankaiana, 1971).

Despite the general adoption of western dress, some examples of this gar-

ment were seen in use in the Mankaiana area in the 1970s.

CLOAKS

Terms: sinokoti—cloak of antelope skin or cattle hide; siphuku—cloak of goatskin (Mar-

wick 1940: 85).

Cloaks of antelope, goat or cattle hide were worn in cold weather by men and

women. By the 1930s these had often been replaced by cloth cloaks, or overcoats

(Marwick 1940: 85). At a ceremonial occasion such as Incwala (a celebration of

kingship and a First-Fruits rite), the wearing of skin clothing was resumed, and

royalty were distinguished by their cloaks of leopard skin (Marwick 1940: 194;

Kuper 1943-4: 248). A fine example of a chief’s leopard-skin cloak is illustrated

by Myburgh (1956: 147).

At the burial of the king, male mourners covered their shoulders with lion

skins (Kuper 1947: 87).

378 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 45. Swazi woman’s breast-covering of goatskin; SAM-10134, Mankaiana, 1971.

LOIN-COVERINGS

Terms: lidjoba—loin-skin (Kuper 1947: 134); libhebha—loin-skin (Marwick 1940: 84;

Myburgh 1949: 69).

Very young boys wore a small piece of skin attached to a girdle. From the age

of about eight, two bigger and roughly triangular loin-skins, lidjoba or libhebha,

attached at the front and at the back to a waist-girdle and tied on the right hip,

were used (Marwick 1940: 84; Kuper 1947: 134). These were worn over a cloth

wrap (Fig. 46). Formerly loin-skins were large, but since the adoption of printed

cloth wraps, smaller skins have been worn over the cloth (Marwick 1940: 85).

The loin-skin was shaped during the skin-dressing process, while the hide was

wet (Mankaiana, 1971). Goatskin was used by commoners, whereas leopard skin

was reserved for chiefs and royalty (Myburgh 1956: 126). According to Coertzé

(1930-1: 17) mature men wore, in addition to the lidjoba or libhebha, a soft skin

drawn between the legs and fastened back and front to a waistband.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 379

Fig. 46. Swazi man wearing skin loin-coverings over a cloth wrap; Mankaiana, 1971.

By the 1930s skin loin-coverings were rarely worn (Marwick 1940: 85;

Myburgh 1956: 126) except at the annual /ncwala ceremonies, when leopard-skin

loin-coverings were worn by the king and by senior men of the royal village

(Kuper 1943-4: 240; 1947, pl. 4b; Tyrrell 1968: 136-137) (Fig. 47).

SKIRTS

Term: sidwaba—skin skirt (Kuper 1947: 129).

A skirt of oxhide, sidwaba, was made by the father of a young woman about

to be married, in recognition of her new status. After marriage the husband pro-

vided a new skirt every four or five years (Marwick 1940: 46, 101).

The hide for the skirt was dressed, and blackened by rubbing in the ashes of

a plant called isifunti. The hair was removed, and long tapering panels were cut

380 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 47. Leopard-skin loin-covering worn by important Swazi men at the Incwala ceremonies;

AFR 42/438, 1942.

that, when stitched together, fell in pleats from the waistband, like Zulu skirts

(Mankaiana, 1971). In most areas women were responsible for the sewing but in

the north-eastern parts of Swaziland it was done by men, indicating Tsonga

influence (Kuper 1947: 140). Shavings of scented wood, lubandze, were some-

times rubbed into the hide (Myburgh 1956: 125). Hides for the skirts of the king’s

mother and wives were prepared with fat from cattle belonging to a sacred herd

with magical powers (Kuper 1973: 325).

The sidwaba was worn by any woman who had a child, even if unmarried.

The weight of the skirt symbolized the new responsibilities of marriage and

motherhood (Kuper 1973: 352). A widow wore the skirt reversed (Kuper 1947:

183; Tyrrell 1968: 142, 145).

The sidwaba was commonly worn in Swaziland in the 1940s, after the other

women’s skin garments—the breast-covering and cloak—had fallen into disuse

(Marwick 1940: 85). Although rare among Swazi living in the Transvaal in the

1950s (Myburgh 1956: 125), skin skirts were still being worn in Swaziland in the

1970s.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 381

ORNAMENTS

Head ornaments

At the Jncwala the king wore a lion-skin headband (lidlabe) (Kuper 1947:

217-218; 1973: 354), and the royal women wore baboon-skin head-dresses (Mar-

wick 1940: 194).

Neck and chest ornaments

At the annual Jncwala ceremonies, Swazi warriors wore ornaments of thin

strips of furry skin around the neck and bandolier fashion from the right shoulder

across the chest (Kuper 1947, pl. 3a; Tyrrell 1968: 136), with a number of fluffed-

out cattle tails attached to cords on the shoulders, arms and legs (Kuper 1947,

pl. 4b; AFR 42/447).

Waist ornaments

Young men wore waist ornaments made of strips of oxhide, twisted so that

the hair stood out (Coertzé 1930-1: 16).

SHIELDS

Terms: sihlangu—oxhide war shield; /ihau—dancing shield (Kuper 1947: 124).

The Swazi war shield of cattle hide was of a rounded oval shape, and reached

approximately from the shoulder to the thigh. Although it differed from the Zulu

shield in shape, it had similar decoration and was held in the same way (Duggan-

Cronin 1941, pls. 131, 132; Kuper 1947: 124) (Fig. 48). Black shields, similar to

the war shields, were used at the Jncwala ceremonies. These were cut from the

hides of the king’s cattle, and stored with other ritual paraphernalia at the royal

capital (Kuper 1943-4: 250).

Small shields were carried by men when dancing, courting or visiting (Kuper

1947: 124). They were beaten rhythmically to accompany singing and dancing at

ceremonies (Kirby 1934: 23). Children used small shields as toys (Merensky &

Grutzner 1861: 137).

THONGS

These were cut from cattle hide (see p. 376), and probably came into much

greater use when the yoking of oxen for ploughing was introduced.

Black oxhide was cut into thongs and twined around a calabash used ritually

in the Incwala ceremonies (Cook 1930: 206; Kuper 1943-4: 232).

MISCELLANEOUS

MATS

During the seclusion period of the Incwala ceremonies, the king sat alone on

a lion skin (Kuper 1947: 219). The symbolic association of the lion and the king

is expressed in his praise-name Ingwenyama, meaning ‘lion’.

382 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 48. Swazi men with war shields. (Duggan-Cronin collection, McGregor Museum.)

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Terms: /uveve—whistle; itambula—drum (Kirby 1934: 25, 112); mandzawe—drum

(Marwick 1940: 82).

A piece of smooth goatskin, held over the mouth of a clay pot by the drum-

mer or an assistant, formed the head of a drum that was used at ceremonies or

divinations; this type of drum was beaten with a reed. Jtambula (possibly derived

from the Portuguese word tambula) and mandzawe both refer to this type of drum

(Kirby 1934: 25, 26, pl. 8; Marwick 1940: 82).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 383

A wet oxtail was drawn over a horn whistle (/uveve), to prevent air leakage.

This whistle was played only for specific purposes, such as calling a hunt, in div-

ination, and in battle (Kirby 1934: 111, pl. 38B).

SHROUDS

A corpse was tied up in a sitting position, and wrapped in his blankets if a

man, or, if a woman, in her skin skirt and breast-covering. In the case of royalty

and headmen, the body was wrapped in wet oxhide (Marwick 1940: 222; Kuper

1947: 178-179).

WHISKS

Diviners carried medicated whisks made of the tail of a kudu or wildebeest,

which are powerful and sensitive animals (Kuper 1947: 167).

SOUTHERN TRANSVAAL NDEBELE: SKIN-DRESSING

The following outline of skin-dressing processes is based on descriptions of

the preparation of goatskin obtained in the Ndzundza and Manala areas of

Groblersdal (1972), Nebo (1972), and Dennilton (1983). The published sources

consulted gave no information on skin-dressing techniques.

Drying

The flayed skin was soaked overnight, then pegged out to dry with the flesh

side up.

Cleaning

The flesh side was cleaned by scraping with an aloe leaf or an ikhuhlo, a

scratching tool made of nails (Fig. 49).

Softening

To soften the skin, putrified brains of cattle or goat were rubbed in, and

sometimes covered with a layer of dung. The skin was also softened by rubbing it

with stones or in the hands (-tshuga), with two men working on one skin. If so

required, the hair was scraped off by means of an adze (ipotho) and any remaining

stubble was smoothed with a rough stone. The thickness of the skin was reduced

by scraping with an adze.

Application of fat and colouring

After cutting, some garments—notably back-aprons—were greased with

cattle fat to make them more supple. This step darkened the appearance of the

dressed skin.

Unsoftened hides

Ox- or cowhide used for shields was pegged out to dry for a few days, with

occasional moistening. No particular steps for softening were followed but, if the

384 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 49. Skin-worker’s tools; Dennilton, 1983.

newly cut shield was buckled, it was buried and weighted under manure in the

cattle enclosure. This would have both cleaned and somewhat softened the hide

(see pp. 352-353) but over a short period would not have removed the hair.

Five small oval shields could be cut from one cattle hide (Nebo, 1972).

Thongs were made by cutting a cattle hide into a long strip and suspending

this, weighted, from the branch of a tree, and repeatedly twisting and releasing it

(Nebow1972):

Cutting and sewing

For cutting, the dressed skin was again pegged out (Nebo, 1972) and the

pattern was marked (Dennilton, 1983).

For stitching dressed skins, twined thread was made by rubbing together

(-photela) lengths of sinew taken from the tendons of slaughtered animals. Lat-

terly, sisal fibre has sometimes replaced sinew. Small holes were made with an awl

along the edges of the prepared and cut skins and the thread was worked through

these (Fig. SOA—B) (Dennilton, 1983).

Practitioners

Among the Ndzundza, the preparation of hides and skins and the cutting of

garments was done by men of the family. However, increasing involvement as

migrant labourers has meant that these tasks have been performed mainly by

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 385

tate cedeermiaS

SEN

Zea)

65 PO 610 h- 69 5 O0re et iC A 6 ! < A ke

~ . ses : coc

ao Sasso acs + pares, a Sl, --—-

Se -_——

— tHE

Fig. 50. A. Sewing stitch used to make a flat-seam. B. Sketch showing this method of stitching.

SAM-10142, Groblersdal, 1972.

elderly men. The co-operation of helpers was required for softening skins by

hand. However, in 1972 in the Groblersdal area, only a few old men were still

practising this craft, and in 1983 cut dressed hides were being sold at a trading-

store in the Dennilton district. This indicates a continuing demand for skin cloth-

ing, which evidently was being supplied by local specialists. Canvas aprons cut on

the same pattern as the skin prototype were also on sale and had replaced the use

of skin to some extent.

The expression of group identity, as reflected in a distinctive style of clothing,

seems to have maintained a skin-working tradition and stimulated a degree of

specialization among the Southern Transvaal Ndebele.

386 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

SOUTHERN TRANSVAAL NDEBELE: USES OF SKIN AND HIDES

CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT

APRONS

Terms: igabe—fringed apron worn by very young girls; isiphephetu—stiff front-apron worn

by girls; itshogolo—married woman’s apron; amaphotho—married woman’s fringed apron;

isithimba—woman’s back-apron (Groblersdal, 1972; Dennilton, 1983).

Front- and back-aprons in various shapes were worn by Ndebele girls and

women at particular stages of life. Very young girls wore an gabe, a frontal apron

consisting of a fringe of skin or plant-fibre attached to a waistband (Weiss 1963:

44). After initiation older girls wore an isiphephethu, a front-apron about 30 cm

square made of cattle hide, goatskin or canvas with a stiff backing, and an

isithimba, a well-greased soft goatskin back-apron with an oval point that reached

to the calves (Fig. 51). The top edge was padded with grass or cloth to form a firm

waistband, and skin thongs tied the apron around the waist. This was made for an

initiated girl by her father. It was also worn by married women, who when wid-

owed cut off the point to leave a blunt edge as a sign of mourning (Weiss 1963:

45, 65).

Fig. 51. Southern Transvaal Ndebele woman’s back-apron, isithimba, with padded waistband

and beadwork decoration; SAM-—12457, Dennilton, 1983.

Married women also wore distinctive front-aprons, larger and more elaborate

than the isiphepethu. A bride wore the itshogolo, a roughly rectangular goatskin

apron, which reached below the knees and had five lappets cut at the lower edge

(Fig. 52A—-B). These were measured by the skin-worker: each lappet was the

width of his hand, the central one (isonto elikhulu) was a handspan long, the next

(isonto elilandelayo) the span between thumb and forefinger, the shortest (isonto

elincinane) was the length of a forefinger. The tail (umsila), of the goat was

attached centrally just beneath the thick, rolled waistband (Tyrrell 1968: 86, 87).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 387

The dressed and cut goatskin was given to the bride by her husband’s family

(Dennilton, 1983). At the wedding the apron was apparently worn undecorated

(Weiss 1963: 48). However, as the status of a married woman grew this was

Fig. 52. Front of Ndzundza woman’s goatskin apron, itshogolo; SAM-10144, Groblersdal,

1972. A. Front view. B. Reverse view.

Fig. 53. Decorated amapotho; SAM-11456, Valschfontein, 1978.

388 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

reflected in the beaded decoration of the itshogolo, which was worn at special

ceremonial occasions (Immelman 1986 pers. comm.).

The more commonly worn married woman’s apron, amaphotho, was also of

goatskin and similar in shape to the itshogolo, except that a beaded fringe

replaced the central lappets. It was sometimes worn over the itshogolo, and was

used at less important ceremonies (Immelman 1986 pers. comm.) (Fig. 53).

BABY-SLINGS

Term: imbelekd—baby-sling (Weiss 1963: 60).

A baby-sling was made by the father from the dressed skin of a goat sacrificed

to celebrate the birth of the child. The skin was used with the hair-side towards

the body. The top was folded over slightly and the legs were used as ties (Weiss

1963: 60; Dennilton, 1983).

CLOAKS

Term: naga—cloak (Weiss 1963: 49).

Cloaks could be worn by all adults but tended to be a sign of the special status

of brides, old women, and young male initiates (Weiss 1963: 61). They were made

predominantly of sheepskin. with goat- and antelope-skin insertions. Chiefs’

cloaks were of leopard, lion, rhebuck or reedbuck skins (Weiss 1963: 63).

The shape was roughly semicircular, made up of large shaped panels, with

numerous smaller panels along the curved bottom edge (Fig. 54A—B). The cen-

tral bottom panel was in some cases of duiker (impunzi) skin, blackened with

charcoal and decorated with incised designs (SAM-—10142, Groblersdal, 1972;

NASKO 67/113, Groblersdal, 1967). The top edge was folded over like a collar

and had flaps, called ears (tindlebe), hanging down behind the neck. The panels

of the cloak were sewn together with sinew thread, and the garment was worn

with the hair-side towards the body (Weiss 1963: 49; Groblersdal, 1972). Bead-

work decoration was often applied, especially white beads for brides (Tyrrell

1968: 86; DC 137, Potgietersrus, 1946).

Skin cloaks became less widely used as commercial blankets became more

readily available.

HEAD-DRESSES

Term: umghele—head-band (Nebo, 1972).

For ceremonies, senior men wore an umghele, a Zulu-style padded otter-skin

headband, with wild-cat skin ear-flaps (Nebo, 1972). Male initiates wore caps

made of red rock-rabbit (rooihaas) skin (Weiss 1963: 62).

LOIN-COVERINGS

Terms: ibeshu—back part of loin-covering; amajobo—fringes forming frontal loin-covering

(Weiss 1963: 61); matsetsha—front and back loin-covering (Weiss 1963: 60); isivunule—

pull-through loin-skin (Weiss 1963: 61; Dennilton, 1983).

Young Ndzundza boys wore a small skin fringe in front, joined by thong ties

to a small square of goat or cattle hide at the back. By the 1960s these were rarely

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 389

Fig. 54. Ndzundza skin cloak, inaga, showing flaps, iindlebe, folded collar, panels, and black-

ened lower edge; SAM-—10142, Groblersdal, 1972. A. Front view. B. Reverse view.

390 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

worn (Weiss 1963: 51, 69). After their initiation, youths wore an isivunule, a

larger supple covering of antelope or goatskin, which was drawn between the legs

and tied at the waist (Weiss 1963: 61; NASKO 67/114, Groblersdal, 1967; Den-

nilton, 1983).

ORNAMENTS

Chest ornaments

Term: iporeana—special men’s ornament of wild-cat skin (Weiss 1963: 52; Dennilton,

1983).

The furry skins of wild-cat (imphaka, tsipu), mongoose (imvunze, ikoni) or

leopard (ingwe), were used alone or in combination to make the iporeana, which

was worn on the chest and held around the neck by a thin thong (Fig. 55). Only

a chief could wear one of leopard skin. This ornament signified the status of elder

married men and was worn at the initiation of a son, weddings, and other special

ceremonial occasions (Weiss 1963: 62; Dennilton, 1983).

Fig. 55. Senior men’s chest decoration, iporeana; Dennilton, 1983.

No other skin ornaments were recorded. However Southern Transvaal Nde-

bele women wore much ornamental beadwork, some of which used skin as a

foundation, or thongs as ties.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 391

CONTAINERS

BAGS

Term: inhlanti—bag (Nebo, 1972).

A bag for a diviner’s bones was the only recorded use of reptile skin. The

entire skin of a monitor lizard (uxam) was carefully removed by cutting along the

inside of the limbs, and then softened. One skin could make two tubular bags

(Nebo, 1972).

SHIELDS

Term: sihlangu—shield (Nebo, 1972).

Small oval shields were made of ox- or cowhide, chosen for particular

colouring (Nebo, 1972), and were supported by a stick decorated at the tip with

furry skin. The shields were carried by male initiates (Tyrrell 1968: 80).

MISCELLANEOUS

WHISKS

Term: umsila—whisk (Weiss 1963: 74).

A whisk made of black or white cow tail, was carried by diviners (Weiss 1963:

S455):

NORTHERN TRANSVAAL NDEBELE: SKIN-DRESSING

The Northern Transvaal Ndebele have been strongly influenced by the Sotho

groups amongst whom they live. Although no record of skin-dressing was

obtained in the literature or the field, it is probable that the basic processes of

drying, cleaning, softening and oiling were followed, and that according to both

Nguni and Sotho practice, the dressing of hides and skins was done by men.

NORTHERN TRANSVAAL NDEBELE: USES OF SKINS AND HIDES

CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT

Although the garments described below were made and used by the Northern

Transvaal Ndebele, both have Sotho origins.

APRONS

The only specimen noted shows strong Sotho influence in its triangular shape

with forked ‘swallow-tail’ lower edge (DC 429, Potgietersrust, 1933). Made of

oxhide, it is 49 cm long, and is folded over at the waist (Fig. 56).

LOIN-COVERINGS

Term: setsiba—loin-skin (Pietersburg, 1967).

Pull-through loin-coverings made of well-softened goatskin were worn by

young male initiates (NASKO 61/190, Grasvlei, 1961; Pietersburg, 1967)

(Fig. 57). This form of loin-skin was not generally worn by Nguni men, but was

adopted from the Sotho in this area.

392 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Fig. 56. Apron, showing marked Sotho influence, worn by Northern Transvaal Ndebele women;

DC 429, Potgietersrus, 1933.

Fig. 57. Northern Transvaal Ndebele man’s loin-covering; NASKO 61/190, Grasvlei, 1961.

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 393

NDEBELE IN ZIMBABWE: SKIN-DRESSING

The following account of the method of preparation is based mainly on

descriptions of contemporary practice at Essexvale, Tjolotjo, and Bulawayo in

1973.

Drying

Cattle hide and goatskin were soaked in water and then pegged out to dry.

Antelope skin was pegged and dried without soaking.

Cleaning

The flesh-side of the dried skin or hide was scraped clean with an aloe leaf

(Smith [1834-6] 1975: 280), an adze (isancelo), or rough stone. These tools also

raised a slight nap.

Softening

Softening was done by rubbing with a rough stone, or by applying fatty sub-

stances such as milk—probably soured (Smith [1834-6] 1975: 280), or putrified

cattle brain, or oil obtained from crushed nuts of the wmtunduluka tree (Ximenia

caffra) mixed with cream. A moist application of beer dregs was also sometimes

used (Hughes & Van Velsen 1955: 61). Skins were finally softened by rubbing in

the hands.

Application of colouring

Cloaks were blackened on the outside, but the substance used was not

recorded (Smith [1834-6] 1975: 277).

Dressing of fur and hair

Rock-rabbit skins were treated as described above, except that no fats were

applied. Leopard skins were not pegged out. Excess water was wrung out by

twisting the skin with the aid of a stick. It was scraped clean with an adze, and

umtunduluka (Ximenia caffra) oil and cream were rubbed in.

Preparation of unsoftened hides

Oxhide for shields was cleaned by soaking overnight in running river water.

Softening was achieved by burying the hide in manure in the cattle byre, and

beating it until sufficiently flexible (Wilkerson [1896] 1943: 14).

To make thongs, an oxhide was cut into a continuous strip the width of four

fingers. This was weighted and stretched by hanging from a tree (see p. 353). Oil

from castor-oil seeds (Ricinus communis) or putrified ox brain, which were

applied to the hide while stretched, improved the tensile strength of the thongs

(Reed 1972: 68). When the process was complete, the thongs were the width of

three fingers.

394 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Practitioners

Men were generally responsible for skin-dressing, and made most of the

household articles required. In the 1830s, specialists dressed skins for customers,

who provided the skin and paid for the labour (Smith [1834-6] 1975: 280).

Neighbours might co-operate in softening a hide. Women helped with cutting

prepared skins. There was some specialization in the sewing together of skin

blankets and in shield-making (Hughes & Van Velsen 1955: 60).

NDEBELE IN ZIMBABWE: USES OF SKINS AND HIDES

CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT

APRONS

In the late nineteenth century small front- and back-aprons of antelope skin

or goatskin were worn by unmarried girls (Selous 1890: 28).

CLOAKS

Term: ixaba—blanket (Essexvale, 1973).

Men’s cloaks were made of an entire softened hide (Smith [1834-6] 1975:

201) (Fig. 58).

The only museum specimen of a skin cloak recorded is a woman’s cloak made

up of numerous narrow panels stitched together and ending in curved lappets

(DC 2071, Shangani Reserve). It was worn with the hairy-side towards the body.

The dead were buried bound and wrapped in their cloaks (Smith [1834-6]

LOTS 279);

HEAD-DRESSES

Term: ituku—cap (Tjolotjo, 1973).

An otter-skin headband was worn by distinguished warriors (Baines 1877: 34;

Selous 1890: 53).

Diviners wore fur caps (Anderson 1888: 366).

Jackal skin was used for furry caps worn by men in Tjolotjo in 1973.

Women in mourning wore a band of oxhide on the forehead (Anonymous

1891: 54).

LOIN-COVERINGS

Terms: ibeju—skin apron and breech covering; uwmtika—kilt (Summers & Pagden 1970:

24): ilitinsi—skin worn wrapped around like a skirt (Hughes & Summers 1955: 787).

Young boys and men wore skin fringes as front- and back-coverings in the

mid-nineteenth century (Smith [1834-6] 1940: 75, pl. 19) (Fig. 58). The fringes

were made up of animal tails, or strips of skin cut and twisted to resemble these,

attached to a narrow waistband (Arbousset & Daumas 1842: 144). At a later

period these ‘tail’ fringes, wmtika, were adopted by youths when joining their

regiments, and were worn only for war or ceremonial dress (Hughes & Summers

1955: 787). Wild-cat tails were commonly used, vervet monkey tails more rarely,

while the tails of the exotic samango monkey were reserved for the king

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY — 395

Fig. 58. Ndebele soldiers. Note cloak, fringed loin-coverings, and shields; by Bell (1835).

(Africana Museum.)

(Summers & Pagden 1970: 24). The ibeju, consisting of square front and back

skin aprons, was worn under the umtika, and was the everyday dress of men

(Summers & Pagden 1970: 24). A skin wraparound loin-covering, ilitinsi, was

also sometimes worn (Hughes & Summers 1955: 787).

A garment described by Harris as the ‘full costume ... Umcooloobooloo .. .”

(Hughes & Summers 1955: 786), was probably similar to the Zulu umqubulu, a

special costume consisting of three very full fringes of furry tails, covering the

body from the shoulders to the knee (see p. 361).

SANDALS

Term: inyatelo—sandal (Summers & Pagden 1970: 35).

Buffalo hide sandals were worn by soldiers on campaign (Summers & Pagden

1970: 25).

SKIRTS

Long black goatskin skirts, reaching to the ankles (Smith [1834-6] 1940: 307),

were worn by married women, while girls wore knee-length skirts (Anderson

1888: 366, 374-375).

396 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

ORNAMENTS

Arm and leg ornaments

Soldiers wore, on the upper arm and around the calf, light fringes made by

opening out the tips of cows’ tails (Hughes & Summers 1955: 788).

SHIELDS

Terms: thawu—shield; isihlangu—war shield (Hughes & Summers 1955: 785).

Shields used by Ndebele soldiers were large pointed ovals, following the Zulu

prototype (Fig. 58). They were made of oxhide, from cattle slaughtered on the

king’s instructions, by a specialist who could cut a shield from each side of a hide,

each from 77 cm to 150 cm long and 60 cm wide. War shields reached from the

shoulder to the feet (Smith [1834-6] 1975: 243). They were decorated with laced

strips of hide and held like the Zulu shield (Burrow [1834-6] 1971: 52; Summers

& Pagden 1970, fig. 1; Bulawayo Nat. Mus. 2349, 2352, 2353, Tungwesi, 1893).

The colour or shape of their shields distinguished different regiments. Experi-

enced soldiers had lighter coloured shields than young recruits (Hughes & Sum-

mers 1955: 785). Shields served as sunshades while on the march (Moffat 1842:

504). While the large war shields were used only by royal command, small shields

were carried when visiting, or by herd-boys (Wilkerson [1896] 1943: 14).

THONGS

Term: umchilo (Tjolotjo, 1973).

Thongs were useful for inspanning draught animals (Hughes & Van Velsen

1955: 61). Although their use and manufacture possibly increased from the latter

part of the nineteenth century when the inspanning of animals was introduced by

colonists, thongs had many general uses as ties and bindings.

MISCELLANEOUS

BAGS

Skin bags were used to transport grain (O’Neil 1910-11: 194).

BLANKETS

Several kinds of skin such as goat, rock-rabbit and antelope were used to

make blankets. Small patches were cut and sewn together with ox-sinew thread in

a fashion possibly acquired by the Ndebele earlier, while living amongst the

Tswana (Tjolotjo, 1973).

SHROUDS

Chiefs and other important men were buried wrapped in the hide of a spe-

cially killed ox (Anonymous 1891: 54; Hughes & Van Velsen 1955: 101).

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 397

DISCUSSION

As mentioned in the introduction, this study covers the broad area occupied

by Nguni-speakers but does not intend to imply cultural homogeneity or fixed

cultural boundaries. One of the problems with studies that adopt a linguistic classi-

ficatory grid is that the boundaries are assumed and not investigated. It was not

possible within the scope of the present project, initiated over a decade ago as a

survey, to undertake the necessary detailed microstudy that would shed light on

the diversity of local processes and boundaries. We alert the reader to this

problem and hope that this general work will provide the basis for further study.

During the pre-colonial period skin-working was an essential part of material

culture throughout the Nguni area. Skin-working provided dressed skins for both

everyday clothing and ceremonial dress, as well as unsoftened hides that were

used mainly for shields. From the early nineteenth century onwards, however, the

effects of colonial contact on Nguni material culture had become so pervasive

that, by the middle of the twentieth century, the craft of skin-dressing had been

reduced to a vestige of its former importance. Where skin-working continued, the

wider economic context—notably the migrant labour system and the increased

pressure on land—resulted in changed social and economic relations.

The areas occupied by Nguni-speakers in the nineteenth century abounded in

game animals, which were hunted not only for their meat but also for hides, horns

and tusks. Domestic livestock provided a more regular supply of hides for house-

hold use and it is from this source that most ordinary clothing was made. The skins

of certain game animals lent distinction to the dress of chiefs and headmen,

leopard skin being reserved for the exclusive use of chiefs and those honoured by

them.

The degree of specialization and the division of labour within the craft of

skin-dressing varied slightly from group to group within the Nguni area but certain

important aspects of the craft were common to the region as a whole. Men were

the providers of the raw hides and skins, whether derived from the hunt or from

the slaughter of domestic stock. Men were also mainly responsible for the working

of skins and the manufacture of skin artefacts. In some areas women participated

in the processes of softening and currying the skins, and were also responsible for

the sewing and decorating of their own clothing but, in general, working with

skins and hides was undertaken or supervised by men.

Throughout the Nguni area there was a tendency for warriors’ apparel,

shields and certain garments, such as antelope skin cloaks and married women’s

skirts, to be made by specialists. Skirts were often cut by a specialist and sewn by

the owner. Shields and other items made of unsoftened hides were usually made

by specialists.

In the Northern Nguni area there is evidence of particular specialization in

the manufacture of cloaks for chiefs and of shields for the Zulu royal regiments.

The rise of the Zulu kingdom created both an increased demand for prepared

hides and an increased supply of labour. Some indication of the scale of produc-

tion at that time is given by an instance recorded by Stuart (Webb & Wright 1976:

398 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

325), when Dingane summoned a specialist skin-worker to Mgungundlovu and

instructed sixty men to bring aloe leaves to be used in currying skins for shields

and ‘blankets’.

In general, however, skin-working was a non-specialized domestic craft.

Skins of goats and cattle were associated with the household and were usually pre-

pared by the men of the family, often with the assistance of neighbours. Technical

expertise was not exclusive to senior men, although by virtue of experience they

would have been more skilled than younger men. Those craftsmen still practising

in the 1970s tended to be older men but this related more to the decline in the

craft and economic factors than to historical precedent.

There is some indication that cattle were slaughtered at the onset of winter,

when their hair was long and would have provided the warmest cloaks, but many

sources record the reluctance of Nguni men to slaughter their livestock for dom-

estic use. Cattle or goats, however, were always slaughtered on ceremonial

occasions, such as initiation, betrothal, marriage and burial, as well as when pro-

pitiating the ancestral spirits. This provided a fairly regular supply of skins.and it

is of interest that in many cases artefacts made from these skins were associated

with the social event marked by the animal sacrifice. For example, baby-slings

were made from the skin of the goat offered by the father in gratitude for the

birth. Thereafter the sling was believed to be associated with the well-being of the

baby. Similarly, the skins for a bride’s clothing, provided according to custom by

the family of the bride or groom, expressed the bond between the two families.

The association of cattle with the ancestral spirits added yet another level of

meaning to the domestic use of hides. In everyday routine, the use of items made

from the skins of animals offered to the ancestors affirmed the involvement of the

ancestors in the lives of their descendants. The fact that access to the skins for

clothing was only through men was an indication of patrilineal control over

essential domestic resources.

The style of a garment, its ornamentation and quality express ethnic differ-

ences as well as differences in social status. The symbolic idiom of dress is used as

a sensitive expression of identity. The cycle of development from childhood

through to old age was marked by changes in dress and demeanour. As Mayer

(1961: 24) noted among the Xhosa, many social distinctions, such as gradations of

seniority and marital status, were formally reflected in clothing and ornament.

Numerous examples can be drawn from the wider Nguni area. To cite but a few,

among the Natal Nguni and the Swazi, the heavy isidwaba skirt was a sign of the

responsibilites attached to the status of married women, and among the Southern

Transvaal Ndebele differences in style and ornamentation of aprons worn by

women reflected the transition from childhood through adolescence to adulthood.

Although the focus here is on the skin components of dress, these should be

considered within the context of costume as a whole, including other aspects of

appearance such as hair-style and deportment. A married woman’s appearance

was marked not only by her dress but also by her coiffure, her ornaments and her

SOME NGUNI CRAFTS: SKIN-WORKING TECHNOLOGY 399

demeanour. Similarly, a cloak of distinction required the appropriate accessories

to create the impression of high social status. Arm-bands of ivory and necklets

made of the claws of lion or from rare glass beads are among the well-documented

insignia of rank. It is likely that there were many other fine distinctions in dress

that reflected status but these are less frequently described. Furthermore, changes

over time in the meaning and value attached to items of dress reduce the validity

of generalizations.

The question of Khoikhoi influence in the west of the Nguni area cannot be

answered with any precision. The early material culture of both Xhosa and

Thembu seems to have had elements in common with that of the Khoikhoi. Simi-

larities in details of dress and in the use of certain artefacts may have reflected

social or economic integration but conclusive evidence is lacking.

Material culture in general, and clothing in particular, can be used both to

define and to obscure the boundaries between ethnic groupings. The Nguni area

provides examples of both processes. The adoption of Sotho material culture with

little modification by the Northern Transvaal Ndebele reflects their social assimi-

lation, whereas the converse is true of the Southern Transvaal Ndebele, who have

developed a distinctive style of dress and ornament as an explicit expression of

their ethnic consciousness. The widespread Zulu influence in the nineteenth cen-

tury in the Natal area resulted in the diminishing of earlier group differences and

an apparent uniformity in material culture.

Allowing for changes in detail, it is none the less possible to suggest that there

were certain cognitive regularities that gave meaning to the use of skin in Nguni

material culture. The association of cattle with the ancestral spirits has been

mentioned above. It can be argued that the association of powerful game animals,

such as the leopard and the elephant, with the power of a chief is significant. The

strength and courage required of the hunters to kill an elephant was associated

with the supernatural power of the chief, who used the tusks and tail as insignia

of rank. By succeeding in the hunt, the hunters proved their power over untamed

forces and, metaphorically, drew strength from their prey and even assimilated

the traits believed to characterize the animal. In the same way certain skins used

by diviners represented the attributes of the live animal.

The decline in skin-dressing and in the use of skin products relates to a var-

iety of factors—ecological, historical and socio-economic. It is of note that,

among the Xhosa, the use of ochred clothing (originally skin, and later cotton

cloth) had, by the 1960s, become symbolic of traditional conservatism, in contrast

to the style of western dress first advocated by missionaries and subsequently

widely adopted by educated members of the community. Differences in dress

consciously adhered to by ‘Red’ and ‘School’ people reflected significant differ-

ences in lifestyle and values. Conservative migrants required to wear western

dress in town would declare their traditionalism through accessories, such as leg-

rings, arm-bands or a tobacco pouch. Mayer (1961: 26) suggested that in this way

they made a definite statement of identity in alien surroundings.

400 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

As noted in the introduction to this study, skin-working technology is no

longer a viable part of the Nguni domestic economy. In fact, for more than a

hundred and fifty years cloth has been available and has provided an acceptable

substitute for skin. It is of particular interest, therefore, to record the widespread

revival of traditional dress on certain public occasions. Historical traditions and

their material manifestations are invoked to give meaning and legitimacy to cur-

rent interests (Hobsbawn & Ranger 1983). Contemporary political leaders draw

on the symbolism of the past and combine the old and the new to give historical

credibility to their present positions. This conjuring of the past with the present

(Marks 1986: 122), using traditional skin regalia, underlines the active role that

material culture plays in signifying relations of power.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgement is hereby made of the financial assistance of the Human

Sciences Research Council towards the research and publication of this work.

Opinions expressed or conclusions reached are those of the authors and should

not be regarded as representative of those of the Human Sciences Research

Council.

Some sections of the Natal Nguni data presented here formed part of work

done by L. Hooper for an Honours degree in Anthropology at the University of

Stellenbosch, supervised by Prof. G. M. K. Schuler.

Thanks are due to the directors of the Africana Museum, Jolannesuune

McGregor Museum, Kimberley; East London Museum; Kwa-Zulu Cultural

Centre, Ulundi; National Cultural History and Open-Air Museum, Pretoria;

Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg; Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban;

South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Bulawayo National Museum; F. S.

Malan Museum, University of Fort Hare, Alice, Transkei; British Museum,

London; and the Museum fiir Volkerkunde, Berlin, for permission to use material

in their collections; to Mrs J. Hosford for photographic work; to Mr V. Branco for

the drawings, and to Mrs M. Scheiner for typing the manuscript.

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ABBREVIATIONS

AFR—Africana Museum, Johannesburg.

BM—British Museum, London, Ethnographic collection.

Campbell—Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban.

DC—Duggan-Cronin Bantu Gallery, McGregor Museum, Kimberley.

EL—East London Museum.

MVB—Museum fir V6lkerkunde, Berlin.

NASKO—National Cultural History and Open-Air Museum, Pretoria.

NM—Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg.

SAM—South African Museum, Cape Town.

UCT— University of Cape Town collections at the South African Museum.

6. SYSTEMATIC papers must conform to the International code of zoological nomenclature (particu-

larly Articles 22 and 51).

Names of new taxa, combinations, synonyms, etc., when used for the first time, must be followed

by the appropriate Latin (not English) abbreviation, e.g. gen. nov., sp. nov., comb. nov., syn. nov.,

etc.

An author’s name when cited must follow the name of the taxon without intervening punctuation

and not be abbreviated; if the year is added, a comma must separate author’s name and year. The

author’s name (and date, if cited) must be placed in parentheses if a species or subspecies is trans-

ferred from its original genus. The name of a subsequent user of a scientific name must be separated

from the scientific name by a colon.

Synonymy arrangement should be according to chronology of names, i.e. all published scientific

names by which the species previously has been designated are listed in chronological order, with all

references to that name following in chronological order, e.g.:

Family Nuculanidae

Nuculana (Lembulus) bicuspidata (Gould, 1845)

Figs 14-15A

Nucula (Leda) bicuspidata Gould, 1845: 37.

Leda plicifera A. Adams, 1856: 50.

Laeda bicuspidata Hanley, 1859: 118, pl. 228 (fig. 73). Sowerby, 1871: pl. 2 (fig. 8a—b).

Nucula largillierti Philippi, 1861: 87.

Leda bicuspidata: Nicklés, 1950: 163, fig. 301; 1955: 110. Barnard, 1964: 234, figs 8-9.

Note punctuation in the above example:

comma separates author’s name and year

semicolon separates more than one reference by the same author

full stop separates references by different authors

figures of plates are enclosed in parentheses to distinguish them from text-figures

dash, not comma, separates consecutive numbers.

Synonymy arrangement according to chronology of bibliographic references, whereby the year is

placed in front of each entry, and the synonym repeated in full for each entry, is not acceptable.

In describing new species, one specimen must be designated as the holotype; other specimens

mentioned in the original description are to be designated paratypes; additional material not regarded

as paratypes should be listed separately. The complete data (registration number, depository, descrip-

tion of specimen, locality, collector, date) of the holotype and paratypes must be recorded, e.g.:

Holotype

SAM-—A13535 in the South African Museum, Cape Town. Adult female from mid-tide region, King’s Beach, Port Eliza-

beth (33°51’S 25°39’E), collected by A. Smith, 15 January 1973.

Note standard form of writing South African Museum registration numbers and date.

7. SPECIAL HOUSE RULES

Capital initial letters

(a) The Figures, Maps and Tables of the paper when referred to in the text

e.g. ‘. . . the Figure depicting C. namacolus ...’: ‘. . . in C. namacolus (Fig. 10) .. .”

(b) The prefixes of prefixed surnames in all languages, when used in the text, if not preceded by

initials or full names

e.g. DuToit but A.L. du Toit; Von Huene but F. von Huene

e.g. Therocephalia, but therocephalian

Punctuation should be loose, omitting all not strictly necessary

Reference to the author should preferably be expressed in the third person

Roman numerals should be converted to arabic, except when forming part of the title of a book or

article, such as

‘Revision of the Crustacea. Part VIII. The Amphipoda.’

Specific name must not stand alone, but be preceded by the generic name or its abbreviation to initial

capital letter, provided the same generic name is used consecutively. The generic name should

not be abbreviated at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph.

Name of new genus or species is not to be included in the title; it should be included in the abstract,

counter to Recommendation 23 of the Code, to meet the requirements of Biological Abstracts.