On these occasions the blacks thought I was in my natural element as a spirit.

But they never ventured to follow me or attempted to satisfy themselves that I was not fooling them all the while.

Yamba, of course, knew the joke, and as a rule helped me to dress for the farce, but she took good care never to tell any one the secret.
No doubt had the blacks ever learned that it was all done for effect on my part, the result would have been very serious; but I knew I was pretty secure because of the abnormal superstition prevalent among them.
The women, as I have before hinted, are treated in a horribly cruel manner, judged from our standpoint; but in reality they know not what cruelty is, because they are absolutely ignorant of kindness.

They are the beasts of burden, to be felled to the earth with a bludgeon when they err in some trivial respect; and when camp is moved each woman carries virtually the whole household and the entire worldly belongings of the family.

Thus it is a common sight to see a woman carrying a load consisting of one or two children and a quantity of miscellaneous implements, such as heavy grindstones, stone hatchets, sewing-bones, yam- sticks, &c.