184 THE HIGHLAND WILDERNESS [chap, vi 



The men had adopted, and were wearing, shirts and 

 trousers, but the women had made little change in their 

 clothing, A few wore print dresses, but obviously only 

 for ornament. Most of them, especially the girk and 

 young married women, wore nothing but a loin-cloth in 

 addition to bead necklaces and bracelets. The nursing 

 mothers — and almost all the mothers were nursing — 

 sometimes carried the child slung against their side or 

 hip, seated in a cloth belt, or sling, which went over the 

 opposite shoulder of the mother. The women seemed 

 to be well treated, although polygamy is practised. The 

 children were loved by every one ; they were petted by 

 both men and women, and they behaved well to one 

 another, the boys not seeming to bully the girls or the 

 smaller boys. Most of the children were naked, but 

 the girls early wore the loin-cloth; and some, both of 

 the httle boys and the little girls, wore coloured print 

 garments, to the evident pride of themselves and their 

 parents. In each house there were several famihes, and 

 hfe went on with no privacy but with good humour, 

 consideration, and fundamentally good manners. The 

 man or woman who had nothing to do lay in a hammock 

 or squatted on the ground leaning against a post or waU. 

 The children played together, or lay in little hammocks, 

 or tagged round after their mothers ; and when called 

 they came trustfully up to us to be petted or given some 

 small trinket ; they were friendly little souls, and accus- 

 tomed to good treatment. One woman was weaving a 

 cloth, another was making a hammock ; others made 

 ready melons and other vegetables and cooked them over 

 tiny fires. The men, who had come in from work at the 

 ferry or along the telegraph-lines, did some work them- 

 selves, or played with the children ; one cut a small boy's 

 hair, and then had his own hair cut by a friend. But 



