THE GO-NAKED TRIBE. 307 



refreshing to find that news of this description had travelled so far. The 

 Bawee, a people who go entirely nude, or clothed only in a coat of 

 red ochre (of whom we shall hear more from Mr. C. Livingstone), were 

 very friendly. The party tried to discover the reason for their going 

 naked, but could only learn that it was the custom ; the habit was only con- 

 fined to the males, the women being always more or less clothed. They felt 

 no shame, nor could any feeling be aroused by laughing and jocking at their 

 appearance. They " evidently felt no less decent than we did with our 

 clothes on ; but whatever may be said in favour of nude statues, it struck us 

 that man in a state of nature is a most ungainly animal. Could we see a 

 number of the degraded of our own lower classes in like guise, it is probable, 

 that, without the black colour which acts somehow as a dress they would look 

 worse still." 



Leaving the bank of the Zambesi for a time, the party travelled through 

 the Batoka highlands, where the free air of the hill side was most invigorat- 

 ing and beneficial, especially to Dr. Kirk, who had suffered from fever. The 

 country, although very fertile, is thinly populated, Sebituane and Moselekatse 

 having ravaged it in their numerous forays The Batoka are a peace-loving 

 and industrious people ; they were so hospitable that it would have pained 

 them if the party had passed without receiving something. Very frequently 

 they prepared their camp for them, — smoothing the ground with their hoes 

 for their beds, collecting grass and firewood, erecting a bush fence to protect 

 them from the wind, and carrying water from the distant well or stream. 



Once they were visited by a noble specimen of the Gro-nakeds, clothed 

 only in a tobacco pipe, with a stem two feet long wound round with polished 

 ivory. " God made him naked," he said, " and he had therefore never worn 

 any clothing." 



Great quantities of tobacco are grown in the Batoka country, which is 

 famed for its quality ; they are inveterate smokers, but always had the polite- 

 ness to ask the white men's permission before smoking in their presence. 

 Above Kariba the people had never before been visited by white men. The 

 chief of Koba, on being asked if any tradition existed among his people of 

 strangers having visited the country, answered " Not at all ; our fathers all 

 died without telling us that they had seen men like you. To-day I am exalt- 

 ed in seeing what they never saw"; while others, in a spirit worthy of Charles 

 Lamb, who threatened to write for the ancients, because the moderns did not 

 appreciate him properly, said, "We are the true ancients; we have seen 

 stranger things than any of our ancestors, in seeing you." 



The following admirable account of the Batoka country and its people is 

 from the pen of Mr. Charles Livingstone : — 



" The country of the Batoka, in Central Africa, lies between the 25th 

 and 29th degrees of East longitude and the 16th and 18th of South latitude. 



