146 
“MOY ” AND HIS LADIES. 
[chap. V. 
which 1 had brought into the country for the first time, 
and were accordingly extremely valuable. No sooner 
had he surveyed them with undisguised delight than 
he requested me to give him another string of opals 
for his wife, or she would be in a bad humour ;—ac¬ 
cordingly a present for the lady was added to the 
already large pile of beads that lay heaped upon the 
carpet before him. After surveying his treasures with 
pride, he heaved a deep sigh, and turning to the in¬ 
terpreter he said, “ what a row there will be in the 
“ family when my other wives see Bokke (his head wife) 
“ dressed up with this finery. Tell the 4 Mattat' that 
44 unless he gives necklaces for each of my other wives, 
44 they will fight! ” Accordingly I asked him the number 
of the ladies that made him anxious. He deliberately 
began to count upon his fingers, and having exhausted 
the digits of one hand, I compromised immediately, 
begging him not to go through the whole of his estab¬ 
lishment, and presented him with about three pounds 
of various beads, to be divided among them. He ap¬ 
peared highly delighted, and declared his intention of 
sending all his wives to pay Mrs. Baker a visit. This 
was an awful visitation, as each wife would expect a 
present for herself, and would assuredly have either a 
child or a friend for whom she would beg an addition. 
I therefore told him that the heat was so great that 
we could not bear too many in the tent, but that if 
Bokke, his favourite, would appear, we should be glad 
to see her. Accordingly he departed, and shortly we 
were honoured by a visit. Bokke and her daughter 
were announced, and a prettier pair of savages I never 
saw. They were very clean;—their hair was worn 
short, like all the women of the country, and plastered 
with red ochre and fat, so as to look like vermilion; 
their faces were slightly tattooed on the cheeks and 
temples; and they sat down on the many-coloured 
carpet with great surprise, and stared at the first white 
man and woman they had ever seen. We gave them 
both a number of necklaces of red and blue beads, and 
