PHYSIOLOGICAL IGNORANCE 265 



conceive." If puberty arrive before a girl quits the 

 kraal precautions are taken against child-bearing, 

 though that event does not seem to be very seriously 

 regarded. 1 The customs among the Nandi are similar. 2 

 The Mpogoro girl in German East Africa reaches 

 puberty in her tenth year. Long before that she is 

 probably betrothed, for it is the custom for two 

 friendly fathers to betroth their children, the son of 

 one to the daughter of the other, from infancy. When 

 the boy is able to work, about his seventh year, he 

 serves his intended father-in-law for a twelvemonth. 

 During or at the end of that time he builds a hut for 

 himself and his bride, and there they go to reside 

 about their seventh or eighth year. They sleep to- 

 gether and enjoy sexual intercourse until the girl's 

 first menstruation. They are then separated until 

 the bride-price be paid, after which the marriage is 

 definitely concluded. To the European who remon- 

 strates astonished and disgusted at this premature con- 

 nection, saying : " But they are both mere children," 

 the laconic answer is returned : " But for all that they 

 are Wapogoro." 3 



Over nearly the whole of the province of British 

 Central Africa, chastity is an unknown condition 

 among little girls under the age of puberty, save 

 perhaps among the Mang'anja. If not betrothed it is 

 a matter of absolute indifference what she does before 



1 Supra, p. 193; Johnston, Uganda, ii. 824; Hollis, xvi. A 

 story is told by the Masai to account for the custom, the gist of 

 which is that it was instituted to provide an outlet for the feminine 

 passions and prevent treachery for the purpose of gratifying them 

 with hostile warriors (Hollis, 120). 



2 Johnston, op. cit. ii. 878; Hollis, Nandi y 16, 58. 



3 Dr. Fabry, Globus, xci. 221. 



