ITINERARY. Ixvil 



Associating with these native peoples, as on these long expeditions, 

 but especially in living among them in their native surroundijigs, one 

 cannot help becoming very much interested in them. As a rule, 

 they sire quiet, inofiensive, and placid, giving the impression of being 

 apathetic, though this is far from being the cnse, as their interest can 

 very easily be roused. Their reserve and apparent indifierence are 

 merely the result of long training in tribal habit, in which they are 

 taught by example to do for, and rely on, themselves, and to mind 

 their own business — the boys from quite an early age associating with 

 their father and other men, learning a man's work, such as fishing and 

 hunting, and the making and repair of the various articles used, such 

 as bows, arrows, and boats, together Avith basket-work, house-building, 

 and the clearing of forests for provision-fields; the girls as maikedly 

 keejiing with their mother and other women, engaged in all the miscel- 

 laneous work of the home, such as the getting of provisions from, and 

 the care of, the fields, the preparation and cooking of the food, looking 

 to the needs of the men and the family in general, the getting of fuel 

 and wa,ter, the making of hammocks, and the j^pinning of its mateiials, 

 etc. The women thus become the laboui-ers and carriers in all routine 

 work, and on a journey from home ai'e loaded up with all the neces- 

 saries of home-life, with the ba,l:)ies and tame pets, such as pari'ots and 

 even fowls, if the absence be for long' — the men marching in front with 

 tlieir l)0ws and arrows or gun, carrying perhaps their hammock and a 

 hunting-bag with theii' few necessaries and ready at a moment's call to 

 secure wliatever may offer in the way of game, though proliably the idea 

 of protection had a good deal to do with tlie formation of this apparently 

 selfish habit of disregarding the heavy loads of the women. 



Unaccustomed as the men are to carrj'ing lieavy bui-dens, except 

 on i-are occasions such as a very successful hunt, it is surprising what 

 weigiits — anything from fifty to eighty pounds usually — they will carry 

 quite wilUngly on a long day's tramp, and for inany days at a stretch, 

 on a long expedition, though each individual is always ready at the 

 start to leave the heavier loads to others, unless special rewards have 

 ])een promised, such as a gun, to the best carriei'S. Then many will 

 attenqit considerably to ovei-load themselves, asking for additions to an 

 already heavy load, no doul)t partly to attract attention to what is 

 being taken. On rough difficult tracks, however, such really lieavy 

 weights are a mistake, as even the strongest men are apt to get knocked 

 out by bruised back or sore feet, and probably fever, causing consider- 

 aljle delay and inconvenience, and perhaps worse liability, if it be in an 

 uninhabited district. 



Though very hospitable to travellers and to each other, always offering 

 food and drink on arrival, they tend to become, through the tribal 

 habit of niainl}' concprning themselves about their own affairs, callous 

 to the difficulties and sufferings of others, except of their own immediate 

 relatives— though after all one cannot perhaps say that they differ 

 much in this respfct froui the meuil)ers of civilised societies in general. 

 In the course of much travelling 1 have been struck by the fact that 

 they seldoui or never offer to lighten loads for their conq)anioiis, even 

 when thf^ir own iiave been very largely reduced by tl;e use of su]»plies ; 

 and, unless the captain rearranges the baskets, those with their original 



