572 THE TRAVELING PARTY. 



should here 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!" Some of the Makololo give a more facetious 

 explanation of the custom : they say that the wife of a chief hav- 

 ing 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 after- 

 ward 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 ascending 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, Sekwebu, 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 Banajoa under Mosisinyane, and, last of all, a small party 

 of Bashubia and Barotse under Tuba Mokoro, which had been 

 furnished by Sekeletu because of their ability to swim. They 

 carried their paddles with them, and, as the Makololo suggested, 

 were able to swim over the rivers by night and steal canoes, if the 

 inhabitants should be so unreasonable as to refuse to lend them. 

 These different parties assorted together into messes ; any orders 

 were given through their head man, and when food was obtained 

 he distributed it to the mess. Each party knew its own spot in 

 the encampment ; and as this was always placed so that our 

 backs should be to the east, the direction from whence the pre- 

 vailing winds came, no time was lost in fixing the sheds of our 

 encampment. They each took it in turn to pull grass to make 

 my bed, so I lay luxuriously. 



