1891 - 92 .] Dr R. W. Felkin on the Wanyoro Tribe. 
165 
sister or daughter, with the exception of his own mother. Marriages 
of necessity sometimes take place, or, to put it more euphemistically, 
love-matches. It is considered quite proper in Unyoro for a 
marriageable girl to visit any lover she may choose during the night. 
A lover, however, may not visit his sweetheart ; at least if he does, he 
runs the chance of a good thrashing and the fine of a cow. If, as a 
result of this free love, pregnancy ensues, the girl’s father takei^ her 
to her lover’s hut and he must maintain her until the child is born. 
After the birth of the child, the father claims her and the child, but 
the young man may purchase them back, the price, according to 
Emin, being 6 oxen’ and 4 sheep. If the child alone is bought, a 
boy costs 1 cow and 4 sheep, a girl 4 sheep or goats. Should an 
unmarried girl die in childbed, the lover is either killed or he 
ransoms himself by the payment of 6 to 9 cows, an almost pro- 
hibitive price except among the higher ranks. If a woman is sterile 
she may be returned to her father, who refunds part of the price paid 
for her, but this is uncommon and against popular sentiment. Emin 
says “ if a man marries and his wife falls ill and dies during a visit 
to her father’s house, the husband either demands a wife (a sister of 
the deceased) in compensation, or receives 2 cows. When a poor 
man is unable to procure the cattle required for his marriage at 
once, he may, by agree nent with the bride’s father, pay them by 
instalments. The children, however, born in the meantime belong to 
the wife’s father, and each of them has to be redeemed with a cow.” 
Divorce occasionally takes place in Unyoro. Either one spouse 
leaves the other or the wife is divorced for adultery. The pro- 
cedure in such a case is described by Emin as follows : — “ The 
injured husband cuts a piece of bark-cloth in two, keeping half of it 
himself and sending the other half with the wife to her father. 
When the cows formerly paid as the price of the bride are restored, 
this piece is returned to the husband, who then burns both pieces.” 
Unyoro is the only Negro State in which prostitutes are officially 
sanctioned. Emin thus describes their regulation: — “In Kabrega’s 
establishment a great number of girls live as servants to his wives. 
They are usually good dancers, or are distinguished by corporeal 
advantages, and enjoy unlimited freedom at night. They are called 
Vranga. As soon as their day’s work is finished, they go out, and 
if they are addressed by a man, they go with him and remain at his 
