5 16 IvOW STATE OF THE BATOKA. 



and laughed with surprise at my thinking him at all 

 indecent : he evidently considered himself above such 

 weak superstition. I told them that on my return I 

 should have my family with me, and no one must come 

 near us in that state. " What shall we put on ? we have 

 no clothing." It was considered a good joke when I 

 told them that, if they had nothing else, they must put 

 on a bunch of grass. 



The further we advanced, the more we found the country 

 swarming with inhabitants. Great numbers came to 

 see the white man, a sight they had never beheld before. 

 They always brought presents of maize and masuka. 

 Their mode of salutation is quite singular. They throw 

 themselves on their backs on the ground, and, rolling 

 from side to side, slap the outside of their thighs as expres- 

 sions of thankfulness and welcome, uttering the words, 

 * f Kina bomba." This method of salutation was to me 

 very disagreeable, and I never could get reconciled to it. 

 I called out " Stop, stop ! I don't want that ; " but they, 

 imagining I was dissatisfied^ only tumbled about more 

 furiously, and slapped their thighs with greater vigour. 

 The men being totally unclothed, this performance 

 imparted to my mind a painful sense of their extreme 

 degradation. My own Batoka were much more degraded 

 than the Barotse, and more reckless. We had to keep a 

 strict watch, so as not to be involved by their thieving 

 from the inhabitants, in whose country and power we 

 were. We had also to watch the use they made of their 

 tongues, for some within hearing of the villagers would say, 

 " I broke all the pots of that village," or, "I killed a man 

 there." They were eager to recount their soldier deeds, 

 when they were in company with the Makololo in former 

 times, as a conquering army. They were thus placing us 

 in danger by their remarks. I called them together, and 

 spoke to them about their folly ; and gave them a pretty 

 plain intimation that I meant to insist upon as complete 

 subordination as I had secured in my former journey, as 

 being necessary for the safety of the party. Happily 

 it never was needful to resort to any other measure 

 for their obedience, as they all believed that I would 

 enforce it. 



In connection with the low state of the Batoka, I was 

 led to think on the people of Kuruman, who were equally 

 degraded and equally depraved. There a man scorned to 



