private concerns. The grey-beards circulate the orders
of the chief amongst the village chiefs, who are fined
when they do not comply with them; and hence all
orders are pretty well obeyed.
One tiling only tends to disorganise the country, and
that is war, caused, in the first instance, by polygamy,
producing a family of half-brothers, who, all aspiring to
succeed their father, fight continually with one another,
and make their chief aim slaves and cattle; whilst, in the
second instance, slavery keeps them ever fighting and
reducing their numbers. The government revenues are
levied, on a very small scale, exclusively for the benefit of
the chief and his grey-beards. For instance, as a sort of
land-tax, the chief has a right to drink free from the
village brews of pombd (a kind of beer made by fermentation),
which are made in turn by all the villagers
successively. In case of an elephant being killed, he also
takes a share of the meat, and claims one of its tusks as
his right; further, all leopard, lion, or zebra skins are his
by right. On merchandise brought into the country by
traders, he has a general right to make any exactions he
thinks he has the power of enforcing, without any regard
to justice or a regulated tariff. This right is called Hongo,
in the plural Mahongo. Another source of revenue is
in the effects of all people condemned for sorcery, who
are either burnt, or speared and cast into the jungles,
and their property seized by the grey-beards for their
chief.
As to punishments, all irreclaimable thieves or murderers
are killed and disposed of in the same manner as these
sorcerers; whilst on minor thieves a penalty equivalent to
the extent of the depredation is levied. Illicit intercourse
being treated as petty larceny, a value is fixed according
to the value of the woman—for it must be remembered
all women are property. Indeed, marriages are considered
a very profitable speculation, the girl’s hand being in the
father’s gift, who marries her to any one who will pay her
price. This arrangement, however, is not considered a
simple matter of buying and selling, but delights in the
Ihigh-sounding title of “ dowry.” Slaves, cows, goats, fowls,
brass wire, or beads, are the usual things given for this
species of dowry. The marriage-knot, however, is never
Irretrievably tied ; for if the wife finds a defect in her
husband, she can return to her father by refunding the
dowry; whilst the husband, if he objects to his wife, can
Mi.im half-price on sending her home again, which is considered
fair, because as a second-hand article her future
¡value would be diminished by half. By this system, it
must be observed, polygamy is a source of wealth, since a
¡man’s means are measured by the number of his progeny;
¡but it has other advantages besides the dowry, for the
¡women work more than the men do, both in and out of
doors; and, in addition to the females, the sons work for
the household until they marry, and in after life take care
of their parents in the same way as in the first instance
the parents took care of them.
I Twins are usually hailed with delight, because they
swell the power of the family, though in some instances
they are put to death. Albinos are valued,
)though their colour is not admired. If death occurs
in a natural manner, the body is usually either buried
in the village or outside. A large portion of the
negro races affect nudity, despising clothing as effeminate
; but these are chiefly the more boisterous, roving
pastorals, who are too lazy either to grow cotton or
strip the trees of their bark. Their young women go
Siaked; but the mothers suspend a little tail both before
and behind. As the hair of the negro will not grow
fong, a barber might be dispensed with, were it not that
they delight in odd fashions, and are therefore con-
Ifcinually either shaving it off altogether, or else fashionin
g it after the most whimsical designs. No people in