THE ZAMBESI REGION. 
305 
other South African tribes. Like the Marutse, they 
treat their women in a way that offers a very favourable 
contrast to either the Becliuanas or the Matabele. They 
have a somewhat peculiar mode of wooing ; when a 
young man has been captivated by a maiden of his 
tribe and has ascertained that he has secured her affec¬ 
tion in return—an assurance for which neither Bechuana 
nor Zulu thinks it necessary to wait—he sends an aged 
woman to carry the proposal that she should become his 
wife; this agent is commissioned to portray the young 
man in glowing colours, to extol the excellence of his 
A MANANSA. 
temper, to praise his skill in procuring “ nyama ” 
(game), to describe the productiveness of his garden, 
and to enumerate the skins with which he has made his 
bed soft and comfortable. Hereupon a family council is 
held; the father, mother, and daughter all have a voice, 
and if no objection is alleged, the old woman is sent 
away with the message that the suitor may be admitted. 
When he enters the hut he must never fail to bring a 
present; until quite recently this was nearly always a 
valuable skin of a rare monkey, but since the introduc¬ 
tion of beads into the country they have been used as a 
substitute, and a handful of small blue beads is now the 
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