Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/381

 The position held by the women of the Marutse empire is better than that of their southerly neighbours. Although they till the soil, and assist in the erection of huts, all the hardest work, such as hunting, fishing, and the collection of building materials, is performed by the men. I generally found the elder people at work, the men gathering wild fruit in the woods, and the women in the fields, either superintending the young or engaged in some of the less arduous labour. The sons of the poorer people, and slave boys, usually act as shepherds, sometimes by themselves, but more generally under supervision, whilst boys of the upper class go hunting, either with assegais or guns. At harvest-time a very serviceable occupation is found for them in watching over the crops and scaring away the gazelles and birds; they are likewise employed to warn the villagers of the approach of any antelopes, buffaloes, or elephants.

It is not the habit of the Marutse to indulge in much sleep; they generally retire to rest late, and go to their work an hour or two before sunrise. Their recreations seldom begin until the close of the day, the lower their rank the later. They sleep chiefly upon mantles, skins, or straw mats. The king’s bed consisted of forty-five splendid mantles, piled one upon another, and three or four of the queens were appointed every night to keep watch over his slumbers.

The training of the children is entrusted to the women, though the boys soon escape the maternal eye, and associate more with the fathers. The children of freemen are allowed to have slave-children as companions and playmates, and as