o* Anthropology : Social 



the West African Negroes is noteworthy, and a ease occurred 

 last year (1905) in which //'.v children were horn alive at one 

 birth from a Negress of the dold Coast. 



After the birth of a child it is, as already mentioned, the 

 invariable custom throughout the aborigines of Liberia that 

 the husband shall have no further connection with this wife 

 until the child is fully weaned. This means an interval of at 



420. DANCE OF THE "FEMKA" 



least eighteen months ; but amongst the Mandingo the practice 

 is pushed even further, for it is stated by Mr. Braham that 

 sexual intercourse between husband and wife is absolutely 

 prohibited for three years after the birth of a girl-child and 

 for four years in the case of a boy. If this practice was rigidly 

 adhered to it would of course limit the issue from one woman 

 to quite a moderate number of children, as the women probably 



1051 



