ITINEKAEY. Ixvii 



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

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

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

 they are quiet, inoffensive, and placid, giving the impression of being 

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

 very easily be roused. Their reserve and apparent indifference 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, a,nd boats, together with basket-work, house-building, 

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

 keeping 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 fpod, looking 

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

 and water, the making of hammocks, and the spinning of its materials, 

 etc. The women thus become the labourers and carriers in all routine 

 work, and on a journey from home are loaded up with all the neces- 

 saries of home-life, with the babies and tame pets, such as parrots and 

 even fowls, if the absence be for long — ^the men marching in fi-ont with 

 their bows and arrows or gun, carrying perhaps their hammock and a 

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

 secure whatever may offer in the way of game, though probably the idea 

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

 selfish habit of disregarding the heavy loads of the women. 



Unaccustomed as the men are to carrying heavy burdens, except 

 on rare occasions such as a very successful hunt, it is surprising what 

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

 quite willingly on a long day's tramp, and for many 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 

 been .promised, such as a gun, to the best carriers. Then many will 

 attempt considerably to overload themselves, asking for additions to an 

 already heavy load, no doubt partly to attract attention to what is 

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

 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- 

 able 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 mainly concerning 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 respect from the members of civilised societies in general. 

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

 they seldom or never offer to lighten loads for their companions, even 

 when their own have been very largely reduced by the use of supplies ; 

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



