Thk Fatk ok the Widows Amongst thk liA-uoNViA. 375- 



Uiiitl of lier clioicf. Tliey had better consent to it at once, because it 

 happens not unfretiuently that the nfukulu, if repulsed tliat day, will 

 go to the family of the woman and claim there the money {lohola) paid 

 for her bv the late husband, sayinj; : "That lohola comes from my 

 mother. If vou do not give us our wife, if you allow hei- to stay with 

 another man. then give us back the money." Or it might happen also 

 that the widow, brought perforce to the house of a y'>"i'gei' brother-in- 

 law, will run awav to the iihiknhi, and the regular husband will be 

 helpless. There is a saying to this effect : A woman inherited cannot 

 be forced. Of course such cases of contlicting interests bring a great 

 deal of friction between members of the family, and the natives are 

 very sorry about it and try to avoid it as much as possible. But the 

 desire of getting one more wife is so strong in the heart of a Uonga 

 that such flisputes are by no means rare, and the day of the adjuflica- 

 tion of the inheritance is universally feared. However, one never goes 

 as far as fighting, and if an uncle and a nephew have parted from each 

 other on bad terms, they will very likely try to mend matters by the 

 sacrifice of reconciliation [hahlelana madjieta), which is one of the nice 

 features of the Ronga religion. 



After the distribution of the widows, the division oi the small 

 property of the deceased takes place. The hatuhdv dispose themselves 

 in a line and receive each something — an assegai, a knife, kc. Then all 

 the company breaks up, each party having received one of the limbs of 

 the killed goats. They must eat it on their way home, never in the 

 mortuary village. All the parties go home, each by their own road, 

 those who have found a wife, full of joy ! When he reaches his village 

 the fortunate husband kills a fowl or even a goat to make a fitting 

 reception to the new-comer. That is the end. 



My only conclusion is this: At first sight the lohola seems not to 

 be a very objectionable custom. It gives to the nati^"e marriage a 

 kind of sanction and regulates in a way this institution, which is 

 everywliere at the base of all the family and social life. However, 

 when one pretends to express an opinion about it, one ought never 

 to forget the case of the widows. Whatever liberty they may have 

 in the choice of their new husband, they belong to the family 

 which bought them. They are not free an}' more, and this fact is 

 sufficient to show that there is no compromise possible between the 

 okl Bantu and the Christian and civilised conception of society. It 

 would be better to recognise that truth at once and fight decidedly 

 against the lohola custom, which is perhaps the strongest pillar of the 

 heathen social system. 



(My informants were Elias Libombo, Mboza, Mbekwa, Magingi, 

 four Ronga men staying in Rikatla, eighteen miles north of Lourenco. 

 Marques.) 



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