( 143 ) 



The Tswabwa expected to be re-attacked at any moment, and had 

 surrounded his village with a substantial double-walled bamboo 

 stockade — a precaution only taken by mountaineers when at war 

 with one another. 



248. It would be a waste of time describing the class of architec- 

 ture or arrangement of this village, for it was identical with 

 that at Bonelein spoken of at page 116. Acheenoung, for that 

 was the name of our guide, was most attentive, and insisted on our 

 having something to eat — a compliment I reluctantly accepted — for 

 the result of the last Kakhyen meal was still fresh in my memory. 

 It was long past midnight before the party broke up, and although 

 there had been a good deal of liquor consumed, all were tolerably 

 sober. Unquestionably, the Kakhyens are dangerous when drunk, 

 and should be avoided in their cup ; but " in vino Veritas ;" and if 

 the desirable medium between drunk and happy can be maintained, 

 it is the time when the most reliable and valuable information can 

 be gained from these people. Until the liquor had taken effect, the 

 Tswabwa was most reticent, and left the whole of the conversation 

 to his Pontine, Acheenoung, but immediately he became slightly 

 inebriated, than he threw off all reserve, and was as loquacious as 

 the rest. I chatted with them on various topics, and was surprised 

 at the intelligence displayed, in their questions and answers. They 

 appeared to take quite as great an interest in our manners, customs, 

 and religion, as we do in theirs. The nuts, I believed in, was one of 

 the subjects I was asked to explain, and although it was difficult to 

 enlighten them on this point through an interpreter, yet they seem- 

 ed to accept my explanation, and endeavoured to assimilate their 

 belief with ours, the Tswabwa remarking that " though there was a 

 difference in our colour, we were of the same flesh and blood." 

 This conversation confirms me in the opinion that, though like the 

 early Greeks, these people are firm in the belief that the universe 

 is pervaded by spirits ; yet they are equally satisfied of the existence 

 of a Supreme Being, who they supplicate through the medium of 

 certain recognized spirits, that have been handed down from the ear- 

 liest teachings of Thales as objects of reverence. Their mythology 

 teaches them that each handiwork of God's, has its special 

 guardian spirit, whether it be the moon, the sun, the forest, the 

 ocean, the workman's axe, the elements, or the least important of 

 His creation, and that in time of need or tribulation, they should 

 invoke the divinity who presides over, and is co-existent with, the 

 object they desire to accomplish. They spoke once of having had a 

 written language and religion, but that these have been lost to them 

 ever since a hungry Kakhyen ate up their bible, which was inscribed 



