m STRANGE CUSTOMS OF SAVAGE RULERS. 
the Cross on the ground with a finger, for the same purpose; but 
this is evidently a remnant of old missionary teaching. 
Titles—the love for them, and the endless variety of designa¬ 
tions intended to express dignity—might equally be enlarged on, 
without the subject being at all exhausted, while the multiplicity 
of fashions adopted in dressing their woolly hair, filing their teeth, 
splitting their ears, or generally improving upon nature, will be 
touched, as far as so extensive a theme admits of. We may, how¬ 
ever, note in this place a few singular customs, which give a better 
idea of African characteristics than more labored analyses of their 
mental traits. 
HOW WIVES MANAGE HUSBANDS. 
One custom said to be universal in Oriental Africa is that of a 
woman tying a knot in anyone's turban, thereby placing herself 
under his protection in order to be revenged upon her husband, who 
may have beaten her for some offense. In due time, when the hus¬ 
band comes to claim her, he is compelled to pay a ransom, and to 
promise, in the presence of his chief, never again to maltreat her. In 
nearly every village in Unyamwesi there are two or three public 
houses, or perhaps they might be called clubs. 
One is appropriated to the women, and another to the men, 
though at the one frequented by the men all travelers of distinction 
are welcomed by the chiefs and elders. As soon as a boy attains the 
age of seven or eight years, he throws off the authority of his 
mother, and passes most of his time at the club, usually eating and 
often sleeping there. On the death of a Wagogo chief, the son is 
supposed to look upon his father’s eldest surviving brother as his 
new and adopted father, but only in private and not in public affairs. 
There is another point connected with the black races of Africa 
to which a few lines may be devoted. The hair of most Africans— 
and universally of the Negro and Negroid tribes—is short, inclined 
to split longitudinally, and much crimped. In South Africa the Hot¬ 
tentot’s hair is more matted into tufts than that of the Kaffir, while 
it is not uncommon to find long hair, and even considerable beards, 
among some of the tribes inhabiting the central plateau of the con- 
