112 
A FEZZANEE WEDDING. 
console ourselves for the loss of sport. We noticed 
several cotton-bushes, but this useful plant is not 
cultivated here except that it may ornament the 
gardens vt^ith its green. I have just eaten of the 
heart of the date-tree. It is of a very delicious 
bitter, and is a choice dish at feasts. 
I met with a number of the suburban inhabitants 
engaged in celebrating a wedding. First came a 
group of women, dancing and throwing themselves 
into a variety of slow, languid, and lascivious pos- 
tures, to the sound of some very primitive string- 
instrument. Towards this group all the women of 
the neighbouring huts were gathering, some merely 
as spectators, others bringing dishes of meat. 
Beyond was a crowd of men, among whom was 
the bridegroom helping the musicians to make a 
noise. These musicians were an old man and old 
woman, each above ninety years of age. The latter 
beat a calabash with a stick, whilst the former drew 
a bow over a single string tied to another calabash. 
The bridegroom had got hold of a brass kettle, with 
which he supplied his contribution to the din. 
Preparations for supper were going on; and, the 
harmony announcing this fact, idlers were coming 
in flocks from the distant hamlets and the fields. 
Two new huts had been built, one for the bride and 
the other for the bridegroom. 
These marriages produce very few children, 
which may partly arise from licentiousness, but 
chiefly, no doubt, from misery. I afterwards saw 
