Dancing aprons are made out of bark cloth by both men and women, but coloured by men only.  The apron, which is worn at dances by women only, is about 6 to 12 inches wide.  It is worn, as shown in Plate 35, in front of the body, being passed over the abdominal belt or a cord so as to hang over it in two folds, one behind the other; and the front fold, which is the part which shows (the back fold being more or less concealed), and is generally 18 inches to 2 feet in length, has at its base a fringe made by cutting the end of the cloth up into strips, equal or unequal in width, the number of which may be only six or less, or may be fifteen or twenty.  The front fold is often wholly or partly stained, the colour of the stain being usually yellow, and is always more or less covered with a decorative design, the colours of which are usually black and red.  The back fold is generally stained yellow, but never has any design upon it.  The fringe is also usually stained yellow, and is without design, except occasionally perhaps a few horizontal lines of colour.

I may say here, as regards these colours, that, so far as my observation went, the colours of the decorative patterns were always black and red, and the general staining was always yellow; and indeed the last-mentioned colour does not show up against the natural colour of the cloth sufficiently clearly to adapt it for actual design work.  I am not, however, prepared to say that this allocation of the colours is in fact an invariable one; and, as I know that red is used for general staining of perineal bands and dancing ribbons, it is possible that it, as well as yellow, is used for aprons.

Numerous variations of design are to be found in these garments; and indeed I may say that it is in these and in the feather head decorations that the Mafulu people mainly indulge such artistic powers as they possess.

Plates 36 to 43 are examples of decoration of the front folds of these dancing aprons [47]; and I give the following particulars concerning them, first stating that, subject to what may appear in my particulars, the darker lines and spots represent black ones in the apron, and the lighter ones represent red ones.

Plate.
|       Average width of apron in inches.
|       |       Notes on ground staining and other matters.

36 6 1/2 Background of design unstained, but back fold of
                apron and fringe stained yellow.
37 [48] 7 3/4 Ditto ditto ditto
38 5 1/4 Only a little irregular yellow staining behind the
                design.  Back fold of apron and fringe stained yellow.
39 6 Background of design (except fringe part) unstained,
                but back fold of apron and fringe stained yellow.
40 7 Background of upper (zig-zag) part of design unstained,
                but that of lower (rectangular) part and whole of
                back fold of apron and fringe stained yellow.