BECHUANA WOMEN. 43 
also a greater variety of character and taste. These 
advantages probably arise from the circumstances of 
their living together in much greater numbers. Con- 
tinually exposed to the incursions of their enemies, 
they have been compelled to associate for the pur- 
poses of mutual defence; and so anxious is their 
disposition at present to live in large communities, 
that, were they sufficiently numerous, they would 
build towns as large as London. The country is 
not now so populous as it was before the invasion 
of the Mantatees. Shortly after that event, the Chief 
of the Bechuanas, Matabee, established himself with 
part of his people, on the banks of the Falls River, 
where he still remains, the other part of the tribe 
being under the control of his brother Mahura, who 
resides at Litakou, forty-five miles north-east of 
Ixruman. All the tribes which speak the Sichuana 
language are generally comprehended under the 
name of Bechuanas. 
“The manner in which the females cultivate the 
soil is not unworthy of notice. ‘They may. be seen, 
perhaps fifty together, working in a line on the same 
spot, and holding their pioch, or spade, in the hand, 
ready to strike it into the ground on a given signal 
for commencing, their appearance at a distance being 
that of a military company under arms. Whilst 
at work, they chant a kind of song as the means of 
animating them amidst their toils, repeating at the 
same time the names of every animal with which 
