RISE OF FATHERRIGHT 21 



secret, of her husband is found among many natives of 

 Africa, and there as elsewhere it is often the pre- 

 liminary of a more permanent cohabitation. Among 

 the Bari of the Upper Nile the bride remains for the 

 first few weeks of the marriage in her father's house 

 and there receives her husband's visits. 1 The 

 Mohammedan profession of the Beni Amer of 

 Abyssinia is not unalloyed with many of their earlier 

 customs. The wife is indeed taken to the husband's 

 dwelling. But she has the right to return at any time 

 to her mother's house, where she stays for months at a 

 time, letting her husband know that he may visit her if 

 he cares for her. She may on the other hand put an end 

 to the marriage altogether at her own good pleasure by 

 simply returning home ; the husband of course has a 

 similar right to leave her. The most usual form of 

 marriage is by payment of a bride-price, which is not 

 retained by the bride's father but becomes a common 

 provision for the married pair, and of an additional gift 

 to her relatives. Further, the bridegroom makes a 

 present to her after the consummation of the marriage. 

 Virginity is prized in a bride and is secured by an 

 operation performed at a tender age. After the birth 

 of the first child the operation is repeated, and requires a 

 fresh present before it can be undone. A woman as a 

 rule cares little for her husband and is always ready for 

 an act of infidelity, especially where there is a prospect of 

 gain. She tyrannises over him, many a time not stop- 

 ping short of ruining and then leaving him. But she 

 prizes her brother above everything. 2 



The people of Sarae, somewhat further to the south, 



1 Post, Afr.Jur. i. 395, citing Brun-Rollet. 

 8 Munzinger, 324, 319, 320, 326, 



