883.] 
Among the Barotse. 
77 
neck by her husband, and then she returns home. Circumcision 
is very generally practised by different tribes, and in different 
\(fays. 
When going to pray, the Barotse make offerings to the spirits 
of their forefathers under a tree, bush, or grove planted for 
the purpose, and they take a larger or smaller offering, according 
to the measure of their request. If the offering be beer, they 
pour it upon the ground; if cloth, it is tied to a horn stuck 
in the ground ; if an ox be slaughtered, the blood is poured over 
this horn, which is, in fact, their altar. 
The native manner of speech is very quaint, and the mere 
expectation of good things causes such delight that men will 
dance and shout all night with empty stomachs in prospect of a 
feast on the morrow. Regard for decency in conversation is 
utterly unknown. There is a city of refuge among the Barotse, 
and any one incurring the king's wrath, or committing a crime, 
may find safety by fleeing to this town. The man in charge of it 
is expected to plead for him before the chief, and he can then 
return to his house in peace. 
The African native, as found in his own home, is, like ourselves, 
a man with all the instincts of a man, and this is shown by the 
conduct of the lowest slaves. A poor slave whom I saw kicked 
out of a hut in which he had sought shelter, folded his arms and 
calmly said, "Yes, master, I know you think me to be a dog; 
but, sir, I am not a dog, I am a man." There was, for the 
moment, a dignity and impressiveness about the poor naked 
fellow, which subdued the man who was abusing him, and he 
was told to return to the hut. 
CRUELTY. 
Many good laws as to constancy and fidelity are to be found 
among these people ; but their innate cruelty is, I think, without 
comparison, and makes war a terrible thing with them. On 
returning from raiding the warrior exults in telling the horrible 
cruelties he has committed. A man will woo a woman with 
accounts of the devilry he has been guilty of, for the women 
delight in it, and the remembrance of things I have seen done 
to captives makes the blood run cold. Among the Mashukulumbe 
the women and children turn out to applaud their brave warriors, 
