Note 5 — Daily Life and Matters Connected with It

I may perhaps refer here to what I imagine to be an ancient stone mortar, which I found at Mafulu, and which I have endeavoured to show in Fig. 2. A portion of the upper part of the original was broken away, and I regret that I did not try to sketch it just as it was, instead of adopting the easier course of following what had been the original lines. I am also sorry that its great weight made it impossible for me to bring it down with me to the coast,5 and that by an oversight I did not secure a photograph of it. The vessel was well and evenly shaped. It had perfectly smooth surfaces, without any trace of cutting or chipping, and must have been made by grinding. It was devoid of any trace of decoration. Its top external diameter was about 12 inches, its height, when standing upright on its base, was about 8 inches, and the thickness of the bowl at the lip about 1 inch. I was told that similar things are from time to time found in the district, generally on the ridges, far away from water. A Mafulu chief said that the Mafulu name for these things is idagafe. The natives have no knowledge of their origin or past use, the only explanation of the latter which was suggested being that they were used as looking-glasses by looking into the scummy surface of the water inside them.6