MM40/69/2734 Digging and Scraping Stick

Tsamkxao ≠Oma and Cgunta Bo (figure 7.1) immediately recognised this object as a tool used for digging and to make rope (figure 7.2). We asked how they knew that it is also used for rope-making, and they said because the edge of the facet is very sharp (figure 7.3), and the length of the stick is relatively short. To make the rope they would place the stick on the ground and hold it in place with one foot (figure 7.4). A leaf of !hui (Sansevieria cylindrica, African spear plant) (figure 7.5) would be placed between the stick and the ground.

Pressure would be applied to the stick with the foot, while simultaneously pulling the leaf towards oneself. Exactly this process is recorded in a sequence of photographs taken by Louis Fourie (figures 7.6–7.9). It is done to remove the green matter from the leaf and extract the inner white fibres, which are used to make rope and twine for nets. Fourie’s photographs show how the fibres are twisted by rolling them on the thigh, twisting the strands and stretching them. Tsamkxao ≠Oma holds the finished product in figure 7.10. He said that men and women used to make rope using this technique, but not all women, and the stick was manufactured by men.

MM40/69/256 Sinew Carrying Net

When removed from its packet, this object looked like a bundle of rope. Gwaxan Cgunta carefully unfolded it to examine more closely what it was. Once open, it was shown to comprise a long net with two lengths of hide at each end. She said that it was a carrying net used to transport items such as ostrich eggs, blankets and skins. The net is worn like a rucksack with the two lengths of hide placed over the shoulders (figure 7.12). We asked what it was made from, and she explained that it was made of sinew from two eland (Taurotragus oryx). The people from whom this net was obtained would have used the two sinews running close to each of the two fillets along the back. The four sinews would have been cleaned of meat with a knife and hung for two days to dry. They would have been softened by hand, by rubbing them on themselves, and then split longitudinally into thin fibres. They would then have been buried in wet sand, and before being worked they would be put into water. Three fibres would be twisted against the thigh with a to-and-fro movement until a long rope was produced. The ropes would be knotted and made into a net (figure 7.11). This process would have taken three or four days.