676 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



negroes we met in strict virtue, in behalf of which they appear 

 capable of resisting the strongest temptations. 



Marriage is preceded by a long courtship, with gallantry much 

 after the European style, and takes place usually when the young 

 woman is from sixteen to twenty years old. The Banziri who 

 marries a Banziri girl pays her father with a large number of 

 guindjas, or the iron picks that are used exclusively for money. 

 A great feast is then given, during which the women dance and 

 the men drink much palm wine. The bride keeps the house for 

 two months without going to the fields or taking part in any of 

 the household work, while the men do the sweeping and till the 

 garden plot. Polygamy is general, but except with rich and influ- 

 ential persons, the Banziris rarely have more than one free wife. 

 The other wives are slaves. The rejoicings and ceremonies ob- 

 served on the birth of a child are the same, whether it be a boy or 

 a girl. The parents build a little altar of boughs, on which they 

 sacrifice a hen. They then anoint the child's shoulders with the 

 blood of the victim, pronouncing a formula which may be inter- 

 preted as a prayer that the child may be preserved from sickness 

 and disaster. Circumcision is not practiced, and the people are 

 disposed to ridicule the men of the surrounding tribes who use 

 this rite. 



On the death of a Banziri, all the men of the village attend the 

 funeral banquet, for which many goats are slain, and which lasts 

 two or three days. If the deceased was a chief, all the women shave 

 their heads as a sign of mourning ; two slaves are slain and buried 

 with him, and generally also the one of his wives who is judged 

 least deserving. The corpse is interred in a squatting position in 

 a round pit. A blood penalty is exacted for murder. It can be 

 paid in pearls or by the gift of two slaves. If the parties disagree 

 concerning the price of commutation, a sort of vendetta arises be- 

 tween the families. A thief, if a slave, is punished with death ; 

 if a freeman, he is sold on the third conviction as a slave. 



The arms of the Banziris are hand knives and throwing knives, 

 assegaies, bows and arrows, and oval shields of osier — all similar 

 to the arms of the neighboring tribes from whom they usually 

 come; for the Banziris have but little enterprise in any arts but 

 those which concern their pirogues and fishing tackle, and would 

 rather buy than make. 



The articles of trade most in demand and current before every- 

 thing else are the little white glass beads called hayalca on the 

 Congo. Blue and red ones are accepted, but in small quantities. 

 Cowries, which were in great esteem before the Europeans came, 

 have lost most of their value, though they still have a restricted 

 currency. European jjicture books, copper armlets, knives, and 

 mirrors might do for presents, but would not be regarded as cur- 



