CHAPTER VI.
A weird duel--The tragedy of the baby whale--My boat is destroyed--A ten miles' swim--Gigantic prizes--Swimming in the whale's head--I make use of the visitors--A fight with an alligator--The old craving--Bitter disappointment--My mysterious "flying spears"-- Dog-like fidelity--I present my "card"-- The desert of red sand.
The women of the tribe lived amicably enough together as a rule, but of course they had their differences.

They would quarrel about the merits and demerits of their own families and countries; but the greatest source of heartburning and trouble was the importation of a new wife--especially if she chanced to be better looking than the others.

In such cases, woe to the comparatively pretty wife.

The women certainly had a novel way of settling their differences.

The two combatants would retire to some little distance, armed with _one stick between them_.