692 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



children? " When the Fingoes left the Gcalekas, whose slayes they 

 were, to come under British rule, they brought with them numer- 

 ous droves of cattle which they were allowed to possess in the 

 land of their captivity. A slave's wives and children belong to 

 his master and may be sold at any time. A headman who is in 

 debt * sells first his slaves, then his sisters, next his mother, and 

 finally his free wives, after which he resembles the proverbial 

 Highlander ; there is nothing more of which he can be stripped. 



Closely connected with personal rights and liberty is the law 

 of inheritance. f A man's heir is his brother, the son of his 

 mother, failing that, his sister's son; his own children are ex- 

 cluded. This, as will be easily understood, is to make perfectly 

 sure, in a land where every married woman has a lover, that the 

 heir has the family blood in his veins. The succession to the 

 chieftainship is based on the same principle, which is curious, 

 considering the terrible severity with which known cases of 

 adultery, in the case of chiefs' wives, are punished. A man suc- 

 ceeds to his deceased relative's wives as well as to his property 

 and rights ; they are a part of the estate. And here it may be 

 mentioned that wives are obtained by inheritance, by purchase as 

 slaves, by presentation, or by raiding and theft. Generally one 

 wife only is free. An infant a few days old may be bought and 

 betrothed, or even an unborn child, conditionally of course. In 

 the case of infant betrothal the suitor provides her with clothes, 

 which is the token of his pledge. 



At an African village the work is done chiefly by the women ; % 

 they hoe the fields, sow the seed, and reap the harvest. To them, 

 too, falls all the labor of house-building, grinding corn, brewing 

 beer, cooking* washing, and caring for almost all the mat'erial in- 

 terests of the community. The men tend the cattle, hunt, go to 

 war, and, curiously enough, do all the sewing required on their 

 own and the women's garments. Neater tailors than Africans it 

 would be impossible to find anywhere. By means of an awl and 

 tendons from animals of the chase they can sew small squares of 

 skin together so as almost to defy an expert to find a seam with- 

 out looking at the reverse side, nor are they mean artists as re- 

 gards cut and fit according to African notions. Whether they 

 would satisfy those who wear only " tailor-made gowns," is a ques- 

 tion which the ethnologist is not called upon to solve. 



The African can not always remain at his own village ; he may 

 be called upon to undertake a journey on his own account, or at 

 the behest of his chief, and in either case it is necessary to take 



* Notably among the Yao. 



f Yao, Malemya's people at Zoinba, Machingaa, and many others. 



\ This is universal. 



