52 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. VII. 



— and with a rude skin cloak and mocassins, com- 

 pletes the costume. 



We were subjected to continual interruptions 

 from the visits and curiosity of crowds of these ladies, 

 who appeared to have no domestic concerns to attend 

 to : and, although the assertion may subject me to 

 the accusation of want of gallantry, I am compelled 

 to state that the effluvia arising from their persons, 

 which are not always free from vermin, was far from 

 aoreeable. Their language, termed Sichuana, is 

 exceedingly melodious. Few syllables end with a- 

 consonant, and the remarkable abundance of vowels 

 and liquids give it a smoothness of sound to which 

 both sexes do ample justice by the gentle tones of 

 their voice. 



Early the following day our waggons were sur- 

 rounded by a tatterdemallion band of natives with 

 skins and carosses* for sale. Foremost in the 

 motley group was Mahura, the Batlapi chief — 

 brother of Motibe, king of that tribe — a portly 

 personage of exceedingly forbidding manners and 

 unprepossessing exterior. He was habited in a 

 thread-bare braided jacket and leathern trowsers, 

 with a broad-brimmed white hat which obscured a 

 large portion of his sinister physiognomy. His A. 

 D. C. — another prominent figure — had inducted his 

 shrivelled frame into a green surtout and military 

 chaco, being withal the least martial character I 

 ever beheld. We made them propitiatory offerings, 

 iind handed round the snuff-box : but far from 

 * ride Note at Chapter V. 



