thought it advisable to make him remain where he was.
My guests remained with me for about half an hour, when they betook themselves to the small warehouse next door, and began to pester Westbeech very much as they had pestered me. As soon as they had gone, I hung a mat over my doorway, leaving only aperture enough to admit a little light, but the expedient was an utter failure; I had taken much too moderate an estimate of woman’s curiosity. Almost immediately afterwards one voice was heard, “Sikurumela mo’ ndu” (a curtain is hung up), followed by another, “Nyaka chajo” (doctor gone out), and two of the queens were inside, much disconcerted, no doubt, at finding the doctor at home.
Altogether, I consider the Marutse to be the cleanest of all the South African tribes that I came across. Although there are but few shallow sandy spots in the river near the larger settlements, and even these are dangerous on account of the crocodiles, the people will not allow themselves to be deprived of their bath; if the stream is deep or the bank precipitous, they pour the water over their heads. Washing is to them an absolute necessity, and they rinse their mouths and clean their hands after every meal.
I made an excursion on the 23rd to the plain known as Blockley’s kraal, and there saw some puku, letshwe, and water-antelopes. The plain lies under water during the floods; but at its edge, close to the woods, I noticed a number of fields under cultivation; women and children were digging, and men were felling trees, the clearance they made being an enlargement of their master’s estate. On
