452 
THE CHILDREN OF THE CAMP. 
[chap. XVI. 
had been forced to fraternize, owing to the now 
generally hostile attitude of the surrounding tribes, 
the leaders had become wonderfully polite, exchanging 
presents, getting drunk together upon raw spirits, and 
behaving in a brotherly manner—-according to their 
ideas of fraternity. There was a peculiar charm in the 
association with children in this land of hardened 
hearts and savage natures: there is a time in the life 
of the most savage animal when infancy is free from 
the fierce instincts of race; even the lion s whelp will 
fondle the hand that it would tear in riper years : thus, 
separated in this land of horrors from all civilization, 
and forced by hard necessity into the vicinity of all 
that was brutal and disgusting, it was an indescribable 
relief to be surrounded by those who were yet innocent, 
and who clung in their forsaken state to those who 
looked upon them with pity. We had now six little 
dependents, none of whom could ever belong to us, as 
they were all slaves, but who were well looked after 
by my wife; fed, amused, and kept clean. The boy 
Abbai was the greatest favourite, as, having neither 
father nor mother, he claimed the greatest care; he 
was well washed every morning, and then to his great 
delight smeared all over from head to toes with red 
ochre and grease, with a cock's feather stuck in his 
woolly pate. He was then a most charming pet savage, 
and his toilette completed, he invariably sat next to 
his mistress, drinking a gourd-shell of hot milk, while 
I smoked my early morning pipe beneath the tree. 
I made bows and arrows for my boys, and taught 
them to shoot at a mark, a large pumpkin being carved 
into a man's head to excite their aim. Thus "the days 
were passed until the evening; at that time a large 
fire was lighted to create a blaze, drums were collected, 
and after dinner a grand dance was kept up by the 
children, until the young Abbai ended regularly by 
creeping under my wife's chair, and falling sound 
asleep : from this protected spot he was carried to his 
mat, wrapped up in a piece of old flannel (the best 
