The girls sometimes join the games and dances, but they also have their own amusements apart; and the boys, as they grow older, stand on their dignity and ‘keep themselves to themselves.’ They have their own dormitory (_gowero_) when too big to sleep in their mothers’ huts with the babies; and in some villages, they have an open shed reserved for their use, where they make a fire in the evenings, and sit round it, telling tales and roasting sweet potatoes till a late hour. When they are older, and after they have attended the dances in the bush and been recognised as men, they are admitted to the bachelors’ house, the _bwalo_, till they marry and set up an establishment of their own. In a village like Ntumbi, of small, scattered kraals, the grown-up men of each family will most likely have a small hut to themselves, as there will not be a regular _bwalo_, in this sense—which is not quite the same as when the word is used to mean the ‘village green’ or ‘forum.’ Like most other boys, they quarrel occasionally, and fight sometimes, with fists, sticks, and anything else—scratching and biting not barred. But on the whole they are not particularly combative, unless under exceptional provocation, and their affectionate comradeship is a very pleasing trait. A boy will never eat alone; and special treats, such as biscuits, are often subdivided into very minute portions to make them go round. The boy in the illustration is performing a service for his friend which is only too frequently needed of late years, since the non-indigenous pest, the jigger (_matekenya_), was introduced by Arab caravans at the North End, and gradually found its way south to the Zambezi. Unless the insect’s egg-sac can be extracted (usually from under the toe-nail) before the eggs are hatched, a very bad sore is the result. With the ‘mysteries,’ childhood ends, and a new phase of life begins, which will be dealt with in the next chapter. [Illustration: 1. BOY EXTRACTING JIGGER FROM A COMPANION’S FOOT 2. HERD-BOYS COOKING THEIR MIDDAY MEAL] CHAPTER VI NATIVE LIFE—II Initiation. Marriage. Division of labour. Meals. Food. Hut-building. The _bwalo_. Affection.