352 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



wars and forays all through East Central Africa 

 had already permitted the population to increase 

 to a point of discomfort. Many of the districts 

 are becoming so crowded as to overflow. What 

 will happen in the long run only time can 

 tell famines are weakening things, while war 

 at least hardens a nation's fibre. This is not 

 necessarily an argument for war. Only every- 

 where in the world the white man seems, with 

 the best of intentions, to be upsetting natural 

 balances without substituting anything for 

 them. We are better at preventing things than 

 causing them. 



At the age of thirty, or thereabout, the 

 El-morani becomes an Elder. He may now 

 drink and smoke, vices that in the Spartan days 

 of his military service were rigorously denied 

 him. He may also take a wife or wives, accord- 

 ing to his means, and keep herds of cattle. His 

 wives he purchases from their parents, the usual 

 medium of payment being cows or sheep. The 

 young women who have been living in the 

 El-morani village are considered quite as desir- 

 able as the young virgins. If there are children, 

 these are taken over by the husband. They 

 are considered rather a recommendation than 

 a detriment, for they prove the girl is fruitful. 



