The Children
they do not go to the washstand to wash their hands and faces, for the simple reason that there are no washstands. They go outside the house to a large jar of water, and then throw the water over hands and faces with a coco-nut dipper. No towels are used, as the hot air soon dries up the water. The teeth are not brushed, for they have been stained black, and it would be a pity to wash the colour off. The hair is not combed, as it has all been shaved except for a little tuft on the top of the head, and that is tied in a knot, and not often combed.
When breakfast is over the children go off to play, the baby being carried by the big sister, not in the arms, but sitting on the hip of the bearer, as on a pony. The girls play at keeping houses. They make dishes of clay and mud, and dry them in the sun; gather herbs, and flowers, and weeds, and pretend that these are cakes and sweetmeats. For dolls they use small clay images that have been whitewashed. The dolls are put in tiny cradles and covered over with scraps of cloth. The cradles are made of network fixed on to a small oblong frame, like a picture-frame. The boys go fishing for crabs in the mud, and when the baskets are full of crabs, they pelt one another with warm, soft mud, just as we pelt one another with snow in the winter-time. When they feel sufficiently tired and dirty, they take a plunge into the water, and come up again clean, smiling, and happy.
There are many games played both by men and boys, and about some of these you will hear in a later chapter.
