CHAP. VII.] MARRIAGE TIE. 197 



carry the men's things, and make their huts, and cook 

 for them, leaving the men unhampered and disengaged, 

 ready to run and drive the oxen, and do anything that 

 might be vranted. Damara women have not much to 

 complain of : they are valuable helpmates ; and divorce 

 themselves as often as thej^ like. The consequence is 

 that the marital rule depends not upon violence nor 

 upon interest, but upon affection. A wife costs a 

 Damara nothing, for she "crows" her own pignuts, 

 and she is of positive use, because she builds and 

 plasters his hut, cooks his victuals, and carries his 

 things when he moves from place to place. A Damara 

 seldom beats his wife much ; if he does, she decamps. 

 This deference of husband to wife was a great difficulty 

 in the way of discipline ; for I often wanted to punish 

 the ladies of my party, and yet I could not make their 

 husbands whip them for me, and of course I was far too 

 gallant to have it done by any other hands. They bored 

 me to death with t^heir everlasting talking ; but I must 

 own that there were many good points in their cha- 

 racter. They were extremely patient, though not 

 feminine, according to our ideas : they had no strong 

 affections either for spouse or children ; in fact, the 

 spouse was changed almost weekly, and I seldom 

 knew, without inquuy, who the pro tempore husband of 

 each lady was at any particular time. One great use 

 of women in my party was to find out any plan or 

 secret that the natives I was encamped amongst were 

 desirous of hiding. Experience tells us of two facts : 

 first, that women delight in communicating everybody 

 else's secrets to each other; secondly, that husbands 



