Very rarely, indeed, did the women allow their fire-sticks to go out altogether, for this would entail a cruel and severe punishment.

A fire-stick would keep alight in a smouldering state for days.

All that the women did when they wanted to make it glow was to whirl it round in the air.

The wives bore ill-usage with the most extraordinary equanimity, and never attempted to parry even the most savage blow.

They would remain meek and motionless under a shower of brutal blows from a thick stick, and would then walk quietly away and treat their bleeding wounds with a kind of earth.