. Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. KHOISAN PIGMENTS AND PAINTS 107 Tappen (in 1682) saw red paint on women's faces—it might have been haematite. The various red paints that were used as remedies mentioned by Laidler (1928) possibly included haematite as well as plant substances. Leguat (in 1698) gave no more information than that the greasy hair was 'powdered with dust'—it must have been an earth pigment. Smith (c. 1833) noted that paints and powders were kept in tortoise-shells. Thunberg (1793) saw 'various figures of brown and black paint' on faces—
. Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. KHOISAN PIGMENTS AND PAINTS 107 Tappen (in 1682) saw red paint on women's faces—it might have been haematite. The various red paints that were used as remedies mentioned by Laidler (1928) possibly included haematite as well as plant substances. Leguat (in 1698) gave no more information than that the greasy hair was 'powdered with dust'—it must have been an earth pigment. Smith (c. 1833) noted that paints and powders were kept in tortoise-shells. Thunberg (1793) saw 'various figures of brown and black paint' on faces— the black paint was possibly soot or charcoal, but the brown cannot be identified from the information, nor is there any way of knowing what Saartjie Baardman (c. 1816), or the women in Baines's (Fig. 5) or Steeb's (Fig. 6) pictures smeared on their faces. So, too, will the 'blue clay' on the faces of 'Namaqua' women remain a mystery (Borcherds 1861). Wikar (1779) gave no further information about the paints that were used, perhaps ritually, on the heads of dead animals. The yellow or tan powder with a pleasant smell, used at the Cape (De Flacourt in 1648), was probably vegetable matter. In Bethany, Orange Free State, fine quartz was used on a Kora male initiate (Wuras c. 1858), and the 'ground white stone' that the Nama used for a female initiate (Hoernle 1918) might have been quartz, but there was no indication that it had been mixed with fat. These, and Valentyn's reference to workings of 'red and white chalk' were the only references to white pigments that were Detail from drawing by Thomas Baines of 'Namaqua' women with patterns painted on their faces (from Chapman 1849-63).. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original South African Museum. Cape Town [etc. ] The Museu
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