THE SOUDANESE 145 



Polygamy is the rule with the Soudanese. Imam Abdulla 

 Effendi, the Soudanese officer in command at Kibero, had seven 

 wives and five children. On my first visit to Kibero I was the 

 bearer of a judicial decision against him. He had just divorced 

 a wife, and she had appealed at headquarters. I had been in- 

 structed to see that the sentence of the court, ordering Imam 

 Effendi to refund her dowry to the wife he had just divorced, 

 was carried out in my presence. Thereupon he regaled me 

 with the whole story ; how his undutiful wife, instead of serving 

 him with his dinner, chose to throw it at his head ; how he 

 had then ordered one of his subordinates to seize and im- 

 prison the woman for the night ; and how next morning he 

 had divorced her. I assured Imam Effendi that the case had 

 not been heard by me, and that I w^as merely instructed to 

 see that the wife, having been divorced, received back her 

 dowry in accordance with established local Mohammedan 

 custom. As a specimen of what one has to put up with, in 

 dealing with natives, I give a few sentences of what took 

 place. 



/. "You are to refund to this w^oman her dowry." 

 He. " God knows, I have already refunded it." 

 She. " It's a lie ; he has only given me eight yards of cloth." 

 I had now to examine numerous witnesses, some swearing 

 that only four yards of cloth were paid, others swearing equally 

 hard that eight yards were paid. Finally I ascertained that 

 forty rupees, about £2, los., was still due to the woman. This 

 I ordered Imam Effendi to refund. 



/. " You are now to refund to the woman forty rupees. 

 Have you got the money ?" 



He, " God is witness, I have nothing." 

 S/ie. " It's a lie ; he has cow^s, and goats, and sheep." 

 And so it went on. Having ascertained that he had some 

 cows, goats, and sheep, and the respective local value of each, I 

 knew that he would rather part with goats and sheep than a 

 cow. As the value of a cow had been stated to be equal to forty 

 rupees, I pointed out to Imam the simplicity of his settling the 

 whole matter by handing over one cow to the woman. 



Imam trembled for his cow, and urged me to let him pay up 

 in goats and sheep. As the woman agreed to accept three sheep 

 and two goats as the equivalent of forty rupees, I consented to 

 the arrangement. The goats and sheep were sent for. I had 



K 



