RELATIONS OF MAN AND WIFE. 
103 
Europe, I suppose. Senna is, besides, procured 
from the district of the Tibboos of Bilma, and some 
of this is still sent to Tripoli. Bornou has also 
much senna, but it does not pay the expense of for- 
warding it to Tripoli. 
The relations of man and wife in Aheer are 
curious, if not extraordinary. A woman never 
leaves the home of her father ! When a man mar- 
ries a woman, he remains with her a few weeks, 
and then, if he will not take up his residence in the 
town or village of his wife, he must return to his 
own place without her. When a man sees a woman 
who pleases him, he offers the parents a price for 
her — say, four camels. If the parents agree that the 
price is adequate to the charms or the rank of their 
daughter, the bargain is concluded. These four 
camels remain always the property of the wife, with 
which she supports herself, sending them to Soudan 
or to Bilma, fetching ghaseb or salt. Many of the 
women have a large property obtained in this way. 
When their husbands visit them, they give them 
something to eat, and they remain a few days or 
weeks, and again depart to their own native towns, 
leaving the wife with her property, and any chance 
lover. But the men marry two or three wives, and 
so are constantly in motion, first going to visit one 
wife and then another. Thus the male population 
of this country is kept in a continually restless state 
of activity — roaming about here and there, marrying 
another and another wife, if their means will permit 
