She kept a guard, but had no regular
army, and to disobey her was to die.
I asked what size the land was, and how many people lived in it. She
answered that there were ten "Households," like this that she knew
of, including the big "Household," where the Queen was, that all the
"Households" lived in caves, in places resembling this stretch of raised
country, dotted about in a vast extent of swamp, which was only to be
threaded by secret paths. Often the "Households" made war on each other
until _She_ sent word that it was to stop, and then they instantly
ceased. That and the fever which they caught in crossing the swamps
prevented their numbers from increasing too much. They had no connection
with any other race, indeed none lived near them, or were able to thread
the vast swamps. Once an army from the direction of the great river
(presumably the Zambesi) had attempted to attack them, but they got lost
in the marshes, and at night, seeing the great balls of fire that move
about there, tried to come to them, thinking that they marked the enemy
camp, and half of them were drowned.
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