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I am called a powder puff even though I'm really just a container for perfumed powder and for the actual powder puff. I was made by my owner, a woman of the San people of the Kalahari, to carry her perfume. The San, have always been hunter-gatherers, depending on the water and food plants that we could find in the Kalahari Desert. They own only what they wear or can easily carry. Outsiders sometimes think that they are poor because they have few possessions. The San feel rich because they can easily find good food and water, the weather is good, and they have little luxuries like me. I'm small enough to hang on my owner's belt. I carried my owner's personal perfume, a powder made of leaves and flowers. My owner made me from a tortoise shell and decorated me with ostrich shell beads and made a small puff of fur from an animal skin. The puff keeps the sweet smelling powder from pouring out and is also used to apply the powder to her skin. |