BOOSHOOANAS, or BoosituANAs, 'a tribe of Caffres who inhabit a fertile country in the south of 'Africa. Their manners are remarkably simple, and their principal occupation is in attending their cows, the antelope. ,The' relative duties of the men and women arc, in a singular manner,: inter changed. The women break up the ground with an iron hoe, sow the seed, reap'the grain, and deposit it in their granaries in 'a state fit for use; While the men attend the cattle, milk the cows, and prepare the ferent articles of dress for their wives and children. - The capital of the Booshooanas is Leetakoo,'a large and populous town, which is divided into two by a river of considerable size. Leetakoo was estimated by the commissioners whovisited it in 1801; to be as large in cire.umference as Cape Town, inclu ding all the gardens of Table Valley. The streets are regular, and the buildings very low. The ground plan of every house is exactly circular, and is from 12 to 15 feet in diameter. The floor consists hard beaten clay, ele'vated about four inches aboVe the sur face of the ground. The lower part of the house; to the height of four feet from the floor, is formed of stone laid on clay, having wooden -spars erected certain distances. About one-fourth part of the cir: cle is entirely open, and this open part was the part which seemed always to face the east. By means of
an inner circular wall passing through the centre of the house, and of the same radius as the outer wall, so as to cut off one-third of the circumference, an apartment is formed, in which they deposit their do: thing, their, ivory ornament's, them hassagais, (•the weapon which they use in hunting and fighting,) their knives, and other articles of value. In this apartment the heads of the family sleep, while the children sleep in the half closed viranda, which comprehends two thirds of the circumference of the circle. The roofi of the houses are round, and pointed in the form of a tent, thatched with reeds, or the straws of the holcus. Every house is surrounded with a pallisade, the open space between which and the house is reserved for the granary. The grain is lodged in jars of- baked clay, eacb of which holds about 100' gallons. stands upon a tripod of baked clay, which raises ii about nine inches from the ground. A round straw roof, erected on poles, forms 'a covering for the -jars in such a manner, as to alloWan opening into each of them. Lectakoo contains 'about two or three thou sand houses, and ten or fifteen thousand inhabitants. East Long. 27°, and South Lat. 26° 30'. See Bar row's Voyage to Coehin;China, p. 390. (n)