224 
WARS. 
sometimes takes place at night, when fire-brands are 
thrown about, spears launched, and bwirris* bran- 
dished in indescribable confusion. In the latter case 
the affray usually occurs immediately after the body 
is buried, and is more of a hand-to-hand fight, in 
which bwirris are used rather than spears, and in 
which tremendous blows are struck and frightful 
wounds inflicted. 
In wars males are always obliged to join their 
relatives by blood and their own tribe. Women 
frequently excite the men to engage in these affrays 
to revenge injuries or deaths, and sometimes they 
assist themselves by carrying spears or other weapons 
for their husbands. I am not aware that women or 
children are ever butchered after a battle is over, 
and I believe such is never the case. Single camps 
are sometimes treacherously surprised when the 
parties are asleep, and the males barbarously killed 
in cold blood. This generally takes place just 
before the morning dawns, when the native is most 
drowsy, and least likely to give his attention to any 
thing he might hear. In these cases the attack is 
generally made under the belief that the individual 
is a desperate sorcerer, and has worked innumerable 
mischiefs to their tribe.- In their attacks upon 
European parties I believe the natives generally 
advance in a line or crescent, beating their weapons 
together, throwing dust in the air, spitting, biting 
A short, heavy, wooden stick, with a knob at one end. 
