92 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
and copper, zinc and iron, loading the ankles, and 
giving a dainty elephantine gait ; the weight also pro- 
duces stout mollets, which are set off by bead-garters 
below the knees. The leg, as amongst hill people 
generally, is finely developed, especially amongst the 
lower orders : the “ lady’s ” being often lank and 
spindled, as in Paris and Naples, where the carriage 
shrinks the muscles as bandages cramp Chinese feet. 
In these hamlets women are far more numerous than 
THE KINGDOM OF CONGO. 
men.. Marriage being expensive amongst the “ Mfumo ” 
or gentry, the houses are stocked with Hagars, and the 
children inherit their father’s rank as Mwana Mfumos, 
opposed to Mwanangambe, labouring people, or Wantu, 
slaves. 
The missionaries found a regular system of “ hand- 
fasting.” Their neophytes did not approve of marriage 
in facie ecclesice, “ for they must first be satisfied whether 
their wife will have children ; whether she will be 
diligent in her daily labour, and, lastly, whether she 
will prove obedient, before they will marry her. If 
