JULY.] RESIDENCE AT LATTAKOO. 
27B 
it is rare to see a man take any notice of a woman 
out of doors. Yet the women do not appear under any 
restraint in the presence of the men, but are free and 
chearful. I observed one of them scold five or six men, 
because they did not remove from a fire around which 
they were sitting when the dancing girls were passing* 
I understood that to be a piece of etiquette customary 
on such an occasion. The men made no reply, but 
continued to look stedfastly to the fiVe, like persons 
conscious of having done wrong in remaining where 
they were, but so lazy that they did not like to rise. 
July 1. It is very difficult to know when these 
people are talking, whether they are in a rage or in 
good humour. I had generally to listen whether 
they laughed or not before I could determine, if not 
within sight of their countenances ; for when they 
become the least interested in what they are saying, 
they speak with all their might, as if addressing people 
at a great distance. While sitting in the waggon this 
forenoon, there was an extraordinary uproar without, 
which made me look out to know the cause. Some 
one had stolen two buttons from the trowsers of our 
Bootchuana interpreter, and they were charging one 
another with the theft ; but had it been the great seal 
of England that had been stolen, there could not have 
been a more serious affray. The thief was found, a 
good looking young man, whom the interpreter drove 
out of the square, in the presence of numerous spec- 
tators, who all seemed to approve of the punishment. 
This was the first robbery I had heard of, though many 
N n 2 
