that the material required is very abundant, and most conveniently close at hand, but so it is in the case of the tribes much farther south. The northern people are much more adroit in turning their natural advantages to good account. No better example is needed than that of New Sesheke to prove the rapidity of their building-operations; nor can it be objected that their huts are more lable to be burnt down than those of the Bechuana, Zulu, and Hottentot races; the truth is that when any of these are destroyed, they are so easily replaced that the damage is quite inappreciable.
The river-system of the Marutse district is just of the character, on account of its extensive marshlands, to provide the inhabitants with most admirable and productive sites for their settlements; all around is an abundance of reeds for building purposes, wood for framework and for laths, besides bast, palm-leaves for making ropes and twine, metal for nails and bolts, and sand and clay for cement. Even if it should happen that in any particular spot there should be a deficiency of any one of these materials, the light canoes are so available, and the natives so ready to assist one another, that the want is soon supplied. The towns are built as close to the rivers as the annual inundations will permit, and are generally surrounded by villages that are for the most part tenanted by the vassal people, who till the fields and tend the cattle of the masters who reside within the town itself. That cleanliness is comparatively great, both in the settlements and amongst the population, is probably to be attributed to the abundance of water always at their command.
I observed that the Marutse themselves were
