3i6 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



was an elder and undoubted son of Khari, but 

 by another wife. "It is not etiquette," says the 

 mssionary who witnessed and who best tells the tale 

 of the contest, " ever to refer to the man who thus 

 raises up seed to another, in connection with such 

 children. They are not his children. They are the 

 children of him who is dead. . . . Even the most ardent 

 friends of Sekhome admit that according to their 

 customs Macheng is the rightful chief." l And it was 

 not merely his personal character or the fortunate 

 concatenation of events, but quite as much the legal 

 strength of his title, that gave him ultimate victory 

 over Sekhome. The same custom is reported of the 

 Bahurutsi and of the Bavenda. 2 



Among the Baroswi of Mashonaland there is a 

 recognised practice for an old man with young wives 

 to allow a younger man to raise up children for him. 8 

 Among the Bavenda a man will sometimes give one 

 of his wives to a friend ; but any child she may have 

 by that friend belongs to the former husband. 4 A 

 Mosuto chief inherits his father's wives "as well as 

 his other possessions. These wives, as a rule, each 

 chief distributes amongst his councillors and favourites ; 

 but their children are always called his, thus giving 

 him a considerable source of wealth, as the sons work 

 for him and the daughters bring him large dowries of 

 cattle. Fidelity either from the husband or wife is 

 a virtue rarely to be found amongst the heathen ; but 

 its absence creates no trouble as long as it is not 



1 Mackenzie, Ten Years, 364. 



1 Stow, Races, 525. 



* Journ. Afr. Soc. iv. 315. 



4 Rev. E. Gottschling, /. A. L xxxv. 373. 



