790 NILOTIC NEGROES 



Both sexes drink the beer which is made from grain, but the women 

 never drink with the men. The women make the butter. 



The men do not smelt iron, but obtain it in pig form from the Bantu 

 Kavirondo. There is even a certain prejudice against blacksmiths amongst 

 the Ja-luo. They are called " Ybthetth," and among some of the tribes 

 constitute a separate caste called "Uvino."' They forge spears, knives, 

 bill-hooks, and axes, but their hoes are imported from their Bantu 

 neighbours. Shields are made of buffalo or ox hide, and also of ambatch 

 wood. Their spears have small heads, and shafts of tremendous length. 

 They use clubs, and also long leaf-shaped swords, which they have 

 borrowed from the Masai or Nandi. Bows and arrows are still employed, 

 but the arrows an- no longer poisoned. Poison was said to be derived 

 from the venom of snakes, and also from certain herbs. Their musical 

 instruments are very similar to those of the Kavirondo Bantu. 



Girls are betrothed at the age of seven, and go to their husbands 

 at the age of ten or eleven, payment being made by degrees over the 

 years elapsing between the betrothal and the marriage. The girl is taken 

 by her unmarried girl companions to her husband's house. The father of 

 the girl kills an ox and takes the meat, together with a quantity of 

 sorghum porridge, to the bridegroom's house to provide a wedding feast- 

 On the following day the bridegroom's brothers, and his other wives, if he 

 lias any, take the newly wedded wife back to her father's village, where 

 there is another great feast. The bridegroom does not attend. The father 

 of the girl next day presents his daughter with a goat, and she returns to 

 her husband, who continues to make payments to his father-in-law. The 

 total amount of the marriage payment may reach to six cows, or their 

 equivalent. If the man stops paying, his wife will leave him and go back 

 to her father's village until the payments are resumed. If within a year 

 •of the marriage the woman does not bear a child, the husband may stop 

 his payments, but he has no claim to the return of what has been already 

 paid, so long as his wife remains with him. If a wife dies without having 

 borne children, the amount paid for her is returned, unless the husband 

 agrees to accept one of his deceased wife's sisters, for whom only a 

 .small complimentary present is paid. If a woman refuses to stop with 

 her husband, she is given to another man, and whatever this man 

 gives for her is paid over to her first husband. If a woman has a child 

 and is ill-treated, she may leave her husband, but must leave her child 

 behind with the father. If the child be a boy. when he grows up and 

 the mother gets old she generally returns to live with her son. If after 

 a marriage has been arranged an avaricious father is loth to part with his 

 daughter, the young man employs his friends to waylay the girl in the 

 daytime. If, however, the girl after capture refuses to stop with her 



