THE INHABITANTS OF 808HONG. 297 



stand on the road at the upper end of the town, and 

 watch the women or cattle going or returning from water. 

 The ladies are very black and very scantily supplied with 

 clothing, yet there is among them as much vanity as 

 among their sex in civilised society. Beads are their 

 favourite ornaments ; and some of them carry this 

 passion to such an extent as to wear a kilt of them, 

 constructed very much after the pattern of a " dress 

 improver," and not unfrequently weighing upwards of 

 twenty pounds. Besides this ornament, nearly all wear 

 anklets and bracelets, and among the richer a caross of 

 narwhal-jackal, or some of the numerous wild cat 

 family, suspended from their shoulders. 



The well is the great gossiping-place ; and as water 

 has to be fetched twice a day, no doubt much time is 

 lost in tearing reputations to pieces, concocting marriages, 

 and talking scandal. 



But as there is a road through the hills that passes 

 close to the water, which leads out into the country 

 beyond, numbers of men can also be seen. Generally, 

 these are hunters returning from or going to distant 

 parts of the northern country, some are on foot, others 

 on the backs of bullocks. 



These riding - oxen become very docile, and are 

 ridden without a saddle, a piece of stick thrust through 

 the cartilage of the nose, and to each end of which a 

 string is tied, performs the duty of bridle. Nothing 

 struck me as appearing so foreign and strange as men 

 mounted on such chargers. It looks like applying 

 the ox to a wrong use ; but this is a mistake, for they 

 can perform long journeys so mounted, as well as carry 

 a considerable additional load, and what they lack in 

 speed they make up in sure-footedness. 



