IN WESTEKN AFRICA. 
63 
the flogging process on the backs of women ; and 
one woman came to Good Hope to seek protection 
from her cruel husband. She had been tied to the 
ground, in which position her tongue was drawn 
out of her mouth and burned with a red-hot iron ! 
Though women are called wives,* they are in 
reality slaves, having no rights^ and only such 
'privileges hard-hearted, superstitious, ignorant 
heathen husbands are disposed to give them. And 
ft 
it matters not how cruelly they may be treated, it 
is seldom that their wrongs are redressed; because 
there is no appeal from the decisions of their 
husbands except in rare and extraordinary cases, 
when head-men are induced to put bounds to the 
wrongs imposed upon them by their tyrannical 
masters. 
As a general thing the wife must raise the 
husband’s rice, prepare his food, row his canoe 
along the river, do all his drudgery, and take such 
flogging in the bargain as he is disposed to give 
her. 
A man wishing a wife goes to the parents of the 
one selected, and makes them a present of a 
country cloth, a few mats, or some article of the 
kind, at the same time making known his request. 
The man’s wealth, or ability to give, regulates the 
value of the present he makes, commonly ranging 
in value from one half to two dollars. 
