Chap. XIV. THE MAKOLOLO LADIES. 285 



not like to live in such a country : they could not imagine 

 how English ladies could relish our custom ; for, in their 

 way of thinking, every man of respectability should have a 

 number of wives, as a proof of his wealth. Similar ideas 

 prevail all down the Zambesi. No man is respected by his 

 neighbour who has not several wives. The reason for this is, 

 doubtless, because, having the produce of each wife's garden, 

 he is wealthy in proportion to their number. 



Wives are not bought and sold among the Makololo, 

 though the marriage looks like a bargain. The husband, 

 in proportion to his wealth, hands over to the father-in- 

 law a certain number of cows, not as purchase-money for 

 the bride, but to purchase the right to retain in his own 

 family the children she may have ; otherwise the children 

 would belong to the family of the wife's father. A man may 

 have perfect control over his wife without this payment, but 

 not of the children ; for, as the parents make a sacrifice of a 

 portion of the family circle in parting with their daughter, 

 the husband must sacrifice some of his property, to heal, as 

 it were, that breach. It is not absolute separation, for, when 

 a wife dies, the husband gives an ox again, to cause entire 

 severance, or make her family " give her up." The Mako- 

 lolo ladies have soft, small, delicate hands and feet; their 

 foreheads are well shaped and of good size ; the nose not 

 disagreeably flat, though the alee are full; the mouth, 

 chin, teeth, eyes, and general form are beautiful, and, con- 

 trasted with the West-Coast negro, quite ladylike. Having 

 maidservants to wait on them and perform the principal 

 part of the household work, abundance of leisure time is 

 left them, and they are sometimes at a loss to know what to 

 do with it. Unlike their fairer and more fortunate sisters 

 in Europe, they have neither sewing nor other needle- 



