THE TRAVELLING PARTY. 337 



usually punished with severity; but, notwithstanding this, 

 the children would appear in the streets without their in- 

 cisors, and no one would confess to the deed. When ques- 

 tioned respecting the origin of this practice, the Batoka 

 reply that their object is to be like oxen, and those who 

 retain their teeth they consider to resemble zebras. 

 Whether this is the true reason or not it is difficult to 

 say; but it is noticeable that the veneration for oxen which 

 prevails in many tribes should be associated with hatred 

 to the zebra, as among the Bakwains, that this operation 

 is performed at the same age that circumcision is in other 

 tribes, and that here that ceremony is unknown. The 

 custom is so universal that a person who has his teeth is 

 considered ugly; and occasionally, when the Batoka bor- 

 rowed my looking-glass, the disparaging remark would be 

 made respecting boys or girls who still retained their teeth, 

 " Look at the great teeth I" Some of the Makololo give a 

 more facetious explanation of the custom : they say that, 

 the wife of a chief having in a quarrel bitten her husband's 

 hand, he, in revenge, ordered her front teeth to be knocked 

 out, and all the men in the tribe followed his example : but 

 this does not explain why they afterward knocked out 

 their own. 



The Batoka of the Zambesi are generally very dark in 

 color and very degraded and negro-like in appearance, 

 while those who live on the high lands we are now ascend- 

 ing are frequently of the color of coffee and milk. We 

 had a large number of the Batoka of Mokwine in our 

 party, sent by Sekeletu to carry his tusks. Their greater 

 degradation was probably caused by the treatment of their 

 chiefs, — the barbarians of the islands. I found them more 

 difficult to manage than any of the rest of my companions, 

 being much less reasonable and impressible than the others. 

 My party consisted of the head-men aforementioned, Sek- 

 webu, and Kanyata. We were joined at the falls by 

 another head-man of the Makololo, named Monahin, in 

 command of the Batoka. We had also some of the Bana- 

 W 2# 



