158 
COURTSHIP. 
the rich have sometimes so many as two hundred which I 
should think is a great exaggeration. This custom among 
these idolatrous nations proceeds no doubt from this, that the 
mothers do not suffer their husbands to approach them till 
their children are able to walk. It is very remarkable, that 
good order and perfect harmony prevail among all these 
women who are called to share the same conjugal couch. 
They are not all faithful to their husbands ; but when a 
man suspects that one of his wives is false he compels her by 
the fear of the Simo to confess who has been the partner of 
her guilt. The woman seldom holds out long against his 
questions and threats ; the fear of being subjected to the or- 
deal of the magistrate of the woods forces her to confess her 
fault and to discover her paramour. From that moment the 
latter becomes the slave of the husband, who sells him without 
pity to the negro merchants, or to any other negroes of the 
country. 
A young man has no need of the consent of the female 
whom he loves to obtain her hand ; he takes care to gain 
over to his interest an old woman and an old man, whom he 
employs to convey a present to the parents of the girl, in or- 
der to incline them to give a favorable reception to his pro- 
posals. Should this offer be accepted, he continues to pay 
his court to the relations of his intended by these means, 
until, having obtained their consent, he sends a final pre- 
sent of rum, tobacco, stuffs, and colat-nuts,* which are very 
common on the banks of the Rio NuiEiez, and which must 
always be of different colours. The father of the girl takes 
two of the colat-nuts, one white, the other red ; he cuts them 
in two and throws the half of each into the air, to draw 
thence a favourable omen. After having examined the man- 
ner in which they have fallen, and being satisfied upon this 
point, he calls his daughter, who is not yet informed of the 
* This is the name given by Europeans to this fruit in the African co- 
lonies ; the Mandingoes call it ourou. 
