A STRANGE CUSTOM 231 
He spoke to the chief, requesting that he might see the 
inside of the cages, and also the girls, that he might pre- 
sent them with a few beads. But the chief shook his head, 
and told him that it was forbidden for any man but their 
own relatives to look at them. Sight of the promised beads, 
however, was sufficient inducement, and so the old woman 
who had charge of the girls, and who alone was allowed to 
open the doors, was sought and bidden undo the doors. 
In the meantime the girls were heard talking to the chief 
through the walls of their cages, as if objecting to the thing 
that he proposed to do. The old woman came at length, 
regarding Mr. Brown with looks that were anything but 
pleasant, and plainly evidencing her reluctance to obey the 
order of the chief. To all appearance she was a most un- 
pleasant jailer. However, she had perforce to open the 
doors, since the chief had ordered her to do so, and then 
the girls peeped out, and when told to do so, held out their 
hands for the beads. 
Mr. Brown had, however, intentionally sat at some dis- 
tance from the openings, and merely held out the beads to- 
ward them. He wished to draw them quite outside, so that 
he might inspect their cages. In this, though, he encountered 
an unexpected difficulty, as these girls are not allowed to 
put their feet on the ground all the time they are confined 
in these places. Their desire for the beads, however, over- 
came the difficulty. 
The old lady was instructed to go outside and collect an 
armful of pieces of bamboo, which she placed on the ground 
at short spaces from each other. Then going to one of the 
girls, she took her by the hand, helped her down from the 
cage, and held her hand firmly as the girl stepped from 
piece to piece of the bamboo until near enough to get the 
beads which Mr. Brown held out to her. 
On inspecting the inside of the cage from which the girl 
had come, Mr. Brown discovered that he could scarcely put 
his head within it, the atmosphere was so hot and stifling. 
