These people were found to be exceedingly hospitable, and Andersson's party was well entertained. The chief was very kindly disposed, and every night after dark held a ball at the royal residence. Here the people danced to the national music of the tom-tom and a species of guitar.
The Ovampo women were not unpleasing in appearance. When young they had very good figures, but the older women were exceedingly ungainly. No doubt the weight of the heavy copper ornaments with which they loaded their wrists and ankles was one great cause of this ungainliness. It was no uncommon thing for these ankle rings to weigh two or three pounds apiece. As a pair was worn on each leg, this was no inconsiderable weight to carry about. In addition, necks, wrists and hips were almost hidden by a profusion of shells, cowries, and beads of every size and color. This was considered an essential feature of their dress.
Both men and women had short, crisp, woolly hair. The men often shaved the head, with the exception of the crown, while the women besmeared and stiffened their hair with grease and a vermilion-colored substance, which, from being constantly added to and pressed upon the upper portion of the head, gave it a somewhat broad, flat look.
The women smeared their bodies with grease and red ochre as an additional touch for full-dress occasions. The men wore few ornaments, with the exception of bead or shell earrings.
Both men and women had the curious custom of chipping off the middle tooth of the lower jaw in token that they had outgrown childhood and had reached manhood and womanhood.
Wishing to explore the Ovampo River, Andersson hired a native to transport him in a canoe. The man seemed to enjoy the situation, and took pains to paddle slowly along the river's bank and make a halt at every hut, that the inmates might view the white man at their leisure.
The men of this tribe Andersson describes as strong and well-built, but the women were as ugly as any he had ever seen in Africa.
The river itself and the landscape on either side were beautiful beyond description. Fruit trees, and well-wooded ranges of mountains, stretched away on either hand, forming a background for the beautiful scene. Hippopotamuses and waterfowls were in abundance, and hosts of crocodiles sunned themselves upon the islands which here and there showed above the surface of the water.