2-888-504 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fingoe Woman, 1850. 'The Fingoe Woman from Algoa Bay was sketched at Port Elizabeth, where a large portion of this tribe is located along the coast as far as Sunday's River. These women are very robust and useful; they are in the habit of carrying passengers on their backs from the surf-boats to the shore. Their vest is composed entirely of sheepskins, sewn together with the woolly part next the skin: the bag behind is used for the purpose of carrying their children in. They invariably wear a necklace composed of bits of wood, metal, beads, &c., tied to a string, which are supposed by these unenlightened people to possess a particular charm. The head-dress they wear is merely composed of a piece of cotton handkerchief. Their feet are uncovered'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.