WARS. 
225 
their beards, or using some other similar act of 
defiance and hostility. I have never witnessed any 
such collision myself, but am told that the attack is 
always accompanied by that peculiar savage sound 
produced by the suppressed guttural shout of many 
voices in unison, which they use in conflicts amongst 
themselves, and which is continued to the moment 
of collision, and renewed in triumph whenever a 
weapon strikes an opponent. 
When hostilely disposed from either fear or from 
having been previously ill-treated, I have seen the 
natives, without actually proceeding to extremities, 
resort to all the symptoms of defiance I have men- 
tioned, or at other times, run about with fire-brands 
in their hands, lighting the bushes and the grass, 
either as a charm, or in the hope of burning out the 
intruders. When much alarmed and rather closely 
pressed, they have run up the trees like monkeys, 
and concealed themselves among the boughs, evi- 
dently thinking they were secure from pursuit there. 
If tribes meet simply for the purpose of festivity, 
and have no deaths to avenge on either side, 
although they appear in warlike attitude, painted 
and bearing spear and shield, yet when they approach 
each other, they all become seated upon the ground. 
After which, the strangers, should there be any, 
undergo a formal introduction, and have their coun- 
try and lineage described by the older men. At 
these meetings all occurrences of interest are nar- 
rated, information is given as to the localities in 
Q 
VOL. II. 
