284 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



A chiefs brother inherits in preference to his son. 

 The sons of a sister belong to her brother ; and he 

 often sells his nephews to pay his debts." 1 It may be 

 said generally that motherright prevails throughout 

 Angola. " The closest relation is that of mother and 

 child, the next that of nephew or niece and uncle or 

 aunt. The uncle owns his nephews and nieces ; he 

 can sell them, and they are his heirs, not only in 

 private property, but also in the chiefship, if he be a 

 chief." 2 The father has, among the Kimbunda, no 

 power over his children, even when they are young. 

 Only his children by slaves are considered his property 

 and can inherit from him. 3 



To avoid further repetition we may leave the fore- 

 going to stand as examples of the organisation of the 

 western Bantu. They exhibit the mother's brother or 

 maternal uncle as the head of the family with almost 

 absolute power over his sister's children, in which the 

 authority of the father is however beginning to make 

 breaches. Among the Negroes I have already referred 

 to the Alladians. It may be added that the eldest of 

 the etiocos, whether man or woman, is the head of the 

 family. Although during the father's lifetime the 

 children reside with their mother in his house, on his 

 death the sons go to live with their mother's brother, 

 unless he consent to her retaining them while very 

 young ; the daughters remain with her, but under 

 their uncle's tutelage. Polygamy prevails, but the 

 children of the same father by different mothers 

 scarcely consider that there is any tie between them. 

 Marriages are arranged by the etiocos in council ; and 



1 Livingstone, Miss. Trav. 434. 2 Chatelain, 8. 



3 Post, Afr.Jur. i. 23, citing Magyar. 



