Chap. XX.] MANNER OF ACTION. 357 



mer having a fair start; and Clarke " was assured that no 

 instance occurs of a girl being caught, unless she has a 

 partiality to the pursuer." So with the wild tribes of the 

 Malay archipelago there is a similar racing-match ; and it 

 appears from M. Bourien's account, as Sir J. Lubbock re- 

 marks, that " the race ' is not to the swift, nor the battle 

 to the strong,' but to the young man who has the good 

 fortune to please his intended bride." 



•Turning to Africa: the Kaffres buy their wives, and 

 girls are severely beaten by their fathers if they will not 

 accept a chosen husband ; yet it is manifest from many 

 facts given* by the Rev. Mr. Shooter, that they have con- 

 siderable power of choice. Thus very ugly, though rich 

 men, have been known to fail in getting wives. The girls, 

 before consenting to be betrothed, compel the men to show 

 themselves off, first in front and then behind, and " exhibit 

 their paces." They have been known to propose to a 

 man, and they not rarely run away with a favored lover. 

 With the degraded Bushwomen of South Africa, " when 

 a girl has grown up to womanhood without having been 

 betrothed, which, however, does not often happen, her 

 lover must gain her approbation, as well as that of the 

 parents." 18 Mr. Winwood Reade made inquiries for me 

 with respect to the negroes of Western .Africa, and he in- 

 forms me that " the women, at least among the more in- 

 telligent pagan tribes, have no difficulty in getting the 

 husbands whom they may desire, although it is considered 

 unwomanly to ask a man to marry them. They are quite 



18 Azara, 'Voyages,' etc. torn. ii. p. 23. Dobrizhoffer, 'An account 

 of the Abipones,' vol. ii. 1822, p. 207. Williams on the Fiji Islanders, 

 as quoted by Lubbock, 'Origin of Civilization,' 18*70, p. 79. On the 

 Fuegians, King and Fitz Roy, ' Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, 1 

 vol. ii. 1839, p. 182. On the Calmucks, quoted by McLennan, ' Primi- 

 tive Marriage,' 1865, p. 32. On the Malays, Lubbock, ibid. p. 70. The 

 Pev. J. Shooter, 'On the Kafirs of Natal,' 1857,' pp. 52-60. On the 

 Biudiwomen, Burchell, 'Travels in South Africa,' vol. ii. 1824, p. 59. 



