MARITAL JEALOUSY 199 



who have reached maturity have free access to them. 

 If a girl become pregnant her lover is bound to marry 

 her, paying the customary bride-price. This freedom 

 is not among the Shuli confined to unmarried girls ; 

 and husbands are not very sensitive about the vagaries 

 of their consorts. 1 A similar report is made concerning 

 the adjoining tribe of the Latuka. Among them 

 women and girls are said to be much more numerous 

 than men, and it is suggested that this is the reason 

 why the women are not renowned for chastity, and why 

 the men are so lenient towards their wives. 2 



The marriage custom of the Nasamonians ot 

 antiquity, is said to be still in use by the modern 

 Abyssinians. 3 The Beni Amer are Mohammedans. 

 Among them, as we already know, virginity is assured 

 until marriage. Wives, however, think everything 

 permitted to them ; no conception can be formed of 

 their levity, the motive of which is said to be low 

 greed.* The people of Kordofan have likewise 

 accepted the Prophet of Mecca, but Islam has not 

 improved their sexual morality. Girls have unbounded 

 licence, surrendering themselves readily even to 

 strangers : when they have given proof of their fertility 

 they are more likely to marry. Nor, it is well under- 

 stood, do married women wholly resign their freedom. 

 Their husbands of course know how to compensate 

 themselves. Many a man beyond the wives whom 

 the Koran allows him has others elsewhere. He 

 marries and after a few days' sojourn with his bride 

 takes a journey that may extend over months to 



1 Emin Pasha, 103, 1 08, 271. 2 Id. 225. 



3 McLennan, Studies^ i. 173, citing Mansfield Parkyns, Life in 

 Abyssinia, ii, 51 sqq. * Mvmzinger, 326, 



