CATTLE OF THE ZULUS. Cows Decorated with all Manner of Designs.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 312, 31 October 1888, Page 3

CATTLE OF THE ZULUS. Cows Decorated with all Manner of Designs.

Tin. love that a Zulu has for his cattle causes him to ornament them in many ways, some of which entail considerable suffering upon the animal, which, however, he regard-> from a philosophic point of view, and doe? not allow it to interfere with liisloA'c foi them. He tiimstheii eais into all t-hapes, the favourite pattern being j that of a leaf with a deeply sen a bed edge. He gather up bunches ot the skin upon the head, tie-5 a stiing tightly aiouncl them, and so found a number of projecting knobs of \anous sizes and shapes. He cuts strips of hide from the head and face, letting thorn hang clown as lappels, and aKo cuts the dewlaps and makes? a fringe. With obt.crs he leaves the skin intact, and la\ ishes rdl his art upon the hom^. He will cause one horn to project forward and another backward ; lie will train one upiight and the other to the giound. Sometimes he observe:- a rough kind ol symmctiy and has both horns bent with their points nearly touching the shouldeis, ot trains them with the tips meeting over the head like an arch, or under the neck like a collar, or turned around the eyes like spectacle^. The most singular effect is produced whete t"e horns of a young ox are trained to lie tlab upon tt.e skull until the points meet in the middle of the head, when they are manipulated so as to make them coalesce and giow upward like the horn of the unicorn. In other ca-scs the hotns will be .split at the points, growing with diverging segments, like the outstretched lingers of a hind. The animals are taken in hand as soon as the horns show through the skin, and small \ ertical incisions are made in them with a speai , .so as to divide them. These are allowed to grow again, and then aie still further divided until the requisite end is attained. The bent ones then cut (commencing an inch 01 so below the point, which must nob be injured) a small part of its thickness and bend in a contiary direction, and after much delicate manipulation and care it will describe a curve in the required diiection. In fact, the detail and patience required would weary anyone but a Kamr, who takes the same pride in his work that an artist bestows upon his ideal in stone or on canvas. The average weight of the Zulu ov i,s about 400 pounds. The flesh is seldom eaten, the average diet being sour milk and mealies made into poriidgc. The milk is never taken fresh, being considered indigestible ; consequently, three milk jars are necessary to the convenience of the native— the first one for sweet milk, the second for sour milk ,and the third for " amasi," which resembles clotted cream and is the residuum of the sour milk after the water iluid in poured off. The whites di-like "amasi "when first tried, bub soon acquire the taste for it, and then prefer it to milk in any other form. There being no horses until they were i introduced by the white settlers, the oxen i aro used tor equestrian purposes and also as beasts of burden. The natives as a rule contrive to ride the oxen barebacked, balancingthcmselves upon the sharp, ridged back, and guiding their steed by means of a string tied bo bhc stick passed thiough

the nostrils. They are nob good riders' and jog awkwardly along, their ai-ms jerk" ing about in a most ungraceful manner » but, as the ox seldom moves beyond v a walk it does not matter &o much, but little harm is done by a fall, owing to the horns being trained in the peculiar manner described. There are several cases on record where a man riding an ox with untrained horns has met with a stumble, and falling forward, has been impaled or gored by the horns in their natural state.