A SPECIMEN OF QUARRELING. 433 



Only on one occasion did we witness a specimen of quar- 

 relling. An old woman, standing by our camp, con- 

 tinued to belabour a good-looking young man for hours 

 w r ith her tongue. Irritated at last, he uttered some words 

 of impatience, when another man sprang at him, ^ex- 

 claiming, " How dare you curse my ' Mama ' ? " They 

 caught each other, and a sort of pushing, dragging, 

 wrestling-match ensued. The old woman who had been 

 the cause of the affray, wished us to interfere, and the 

 combatants themselves hoped as much, but we, preferring 

 to remain neutral, allowed them to fight it out. It ended 

 by one falling under the other, both, from their scuffling, 

 "being in a state of nudity. They picked up their clothing, 

 and ran off in different directions, each threatening to bring 

 his gun and settle the dispute in mortal combat. Only 

 one, however, returned, and the old woman continued her 

 scolding till my men, fairly tired of her tongue, ordered 

 her to be gone. This trifling incident was one of interest 

 to me, for, during the whole period of my residence in the 

 Bechuana country, I never saw unarmed men strike each 

 other. Their disputes are usually conducted with great 

 volubility and noisy swearing, but they generally terminate 

 by both parties bursting into a laugh. 



At every village attempts were made to induce us to 

 remain a night. Sometimes large pots of beer were offered 

 to us as a temptation. Occasionally the head-man would 

 peremptorily order us to halt under a tree which he 

 pointed out. At other times young men volunteered to 

 guide us to the impassable part of the next bog, in the hope 

 of bringing us to a stand, for all are excessively eager to 

 trade ; but food was so very cheap that we sometimes 

 preferred paying them to keep it, and let us part in good 

 humour. A good-sized fowl could be had for a single 

 charge of gunpowder. Each native who owns a gun, 

 carries about with him a measure capable of holding but 

 one charge, in which he receives his powder. Throughout 

 this region the women are almost entirely naked, their 

 gowns being a patch of cloth frightfully narrow, with no 

 flounces ; and npthing could exceed the eagerness with 

 which they offered to purchase strips of calico of an in- 

 ferior descripion. They were delighted with the larger 

 pieces we gave, though only about two feet long, for a 

 lowl, and a basket of upwards of 20 lbs. of meal. As we 

 had now only a small remnant of our stock, we were 



2 F 



