aim, and they have no wrongs to revenge!

[Illustration: Boys practising shooting.

_p._ 127.]

The men, for their part, never dream of what Demosthenes said of the
corrupt Athenians of his time, words which are repeated and acted upon
by some of our leading men in this the twentieth century: "We marry a
woman to have legitimate children and to possess a faithful housekeeper;
we keep concubines and pay harlots for our convenience and for the
enjoyments of love".

* * * * *

As I say, among the Sakais the one sex is not the slave of the other.
They live in perfect harmony. The male is considered the head of the
family, although there is nothing to be administered or directed and the
female shows herself sufficiently deferential towards him, but the
custom does not exist among them that one should passively submit to a
will with which his, or her own does not agree.

The man provides food by hunting in the forest, fishing, gathering fruit
and cultivating a little land around; the woman helps him in the work of
agriculture, sometimes follows him into the jungle, prepares his meals
and attends to other domestic duties. She looks well after her children
and is very jealous of them. When they are too little to walk she straps
them to her back with long strips of bark, resting their legs upon her
hips.

This burden does not prevent her from moving about and working. If they
go for a long march the parents take turns in carrying the child.

As soon as a boy reaches the age of six seasons (6 years) he passes from
his mother's to his father's guardianship and under the latter's
guidance begins to make trips into the forest where he catches insects,
picks up fruit and bulbs, learns, little by little, to handle the
blow-pipe and to take part in the hunting and fishing as well as to
distinguish poisons and assist in their extraction.

This is the educational period of the little Sakai.

The girl, on the contrary, remains with her mother and is taught to help
in household (?) work, doing her part with a good will and cheerful
temper.

She goes with her mother to plant and pull up potatoes and yams, to
gather fire-wood, and fill the bamboo buckets with water; she learns to
cook and take care of the little ones.

Quite early she begins a life of great activity. Her arms are still weak
and she can scarcely lift some of the weights allotted her, but they
gradually become nerved for heavier on