536 Major Alfred St. Bill Gibbons [March 15, 



African tribe under the control of Sekome, cbief of the Batawana. 

 These people are very clever basket and mat workers, but what 

 interested one most was the marriage custom in vogue amongst 

 them. It is no more strictly correct to assert that wives are bought 

 and sold in Africa than it is in England. Sometimes, no doubt, 

 pecuniary and other considerations are not altogether absent in 

 either case. Almost every large tribe in Africa has its own way of 

 arranging betrothals and conducting marriage ceremonies. In the 

 case of the Maiye, the young aspirant takes beads to the mother of 

 the girl. Acceptation means consent. On the wedding-day the 

 bride goes into the forest and hides. Sufficient time having been 

 given to allow her to get thoroughly hidden, the bridegroom, having 

 furnished himself with provisions for two for three days, sallies forth 

 in pursuit. Then a game of "hide-and-seek" ensues. I do not 

 know what happens if the seeker fails to find the hider, but I imagine 

 less difficulty is experienced in bringing the game to a successful 

 issue than might be supposed if only the vast extent of the African 

 forest is considered. After a three days' honeymoon the pair return, 

 settle near the woman's father, and the man becomes a member of his 

 wife's family. 



Journeying along the Okavango I passed over a dark yellow sand 

 which grows thick undergrowth — in many places almost impene- 

 trable. As the confluence of this river with the Kwito is reached 

 the yellow sandy soil disappears, and with it the tangled undergrowth, 

 and we enter the white sand country already described as characteris- 

 ing Marotseland. As I had noticed during my journey from the east- 

 coast, so also here, 17° 30' S. latitude roughly marks the boundary 

 between South and Central African vegetation. In passing up the 

 Kwito I was agreeably surprised with the country generally. The 

 undulations become steeper and steeper, and by the time the 15th 

 parallel is reached might almost be described as hills. These are 

 intersected by the rivers and streams already described, whose allu- 

 vial plains are capable of feeding immense herds of cattle, the 

 herbage being not only rich but dense. 



The country from 17° 30' to tho neighbourhood of the Kwito 

 sources and for some 200 miles eastwards is peopled by the Mam- 

 bunda tribe. These are thick-set people and physically above the 

 average. Were it not for that cruel disregard of each for his neigh- 

 bour — even of his own blood in an adjoining village — added to greed, 

 a second predominating characteristic of the African native, they 

 might be both powerful and prosperous. As it is, the most trifling 

 quarrel serves as an excuse for the raiding of one village by another, 

 with the ulterior object of supplying women and children as articles 

 of barter with the West Coast slave traders. I will give you one 

 instance which came under my notice. I had rested at midday in 

 the midst of a cluster of villages of which Kouwewe was one. In 

 the evening I camped near Chachingi, a strongly stockaded village 

 in the valley of the Lomba, a Kwaudo affluent. The chief Mine- 



