A WEDDING. 
303 
I went round the village and found some five 
hundred or six hundred people nestled together. 
All the villages which we passed to-day have a simi- 
lar population. I saw the preparations for a wed- 
ding ; it was a most amusing sight. Two enclosures 
were crowded with people, all busy ; bat the busiest 
were those grinding corn for the marriage-feast. 
The bridegroom was with one group, haranguing 
them in the most persevering manner, and rattling 
a hollow gourd filled with small stones. The group 
replied in chorus, all on their knees, bending for- 
ward, rubbing grain between two stones. The 
other group went on by themselves. Then, in an 
enclosure close by, was the bride, attended with 
all her maiden friends, jammed together in a hut, 
all busy, doing nobody knows what. It was with 
great difficulty I could get a peep at her. The 
bride and her friends were distinguished by having 
a sort of brass nail-head driven through the right 
nostril of their noses. Good big boys were running 
about quite naked. But the conduct of the people, 
old and young, was quite decent. 
The bridegroom followed me to my tent, rattling 
his calabash for a present, singing my praises 
cheaply enough, for I gave him a very small 
present indeed. They have no set songs ; all their 
singing is extempore. 
Afterwards I saw a man afflicted with palsy in 
his head. He applied to me for a remedy, but I 
could only recommend him to bathe himself every 
