56 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
one of the girls withheld this proof of their fear 
of his tongue, or of their own consciousness of 
guilt. He remained with them until near mid- 
night. 
An instance of the manner in which the 
young men of that country obtain wives, also 
came under our observation. One of the inha- 
bitants of the neighbouring villages, having 
placed his affections, or rather desires, on a 
young girl at Kayaye, made the usual present of 
a few colas to her mother, who, without giving 
her daughter any intimation of the affair, con- 
sented to his obtaining her in any way he could. 
Accordingly when the poor girl was employed 
preparing some rice for supper, she was seized 
by her intended husband, assisted by three or 
four of his companions, and carried off by force. 
She made much resistance, by biting, scratching, 
kicking, and roaring most bitterly. Many, both 
men and women, some of them her own rela- 
tions, who witnessed the affair, only laughed at 
the farce, and consoled her by saying that she 
would soon be reconciled to her situation. 
Soon after our arrival at Kayaye, we paid a 
visit to the chief, or, as he is there called, the 
king of Katoba. He resides at a town of that 
name distant from Kayaye about twenty miles 
north. The road or path to it lies over a flat un- 
cultivated country thinly covered with brush 
