On Merchandise Brought Into The Country
By Traders, He Has A General Right To Make Any Exactions He
Thinks He Has The Power Of Enforcing, Without Any Regard To
Justice Or A Regulated Tariff.
This right is called Hongo, in the
plural Mahongo.
Another source of revenue is in the effects of
all people condemned for sorcery, who are either burnt, or
speared and cast into the jungles, and their property seized by
the grey-beards for their chief.
As to punishments, all irreclaimable thieves or murderers are
killed and disposed of in the same manner as these sorcerers;
whilst on minor thieves a penalty equivalent to the extent of the
depredation is levied. Illicit intercourse being treated as
petty larceny, a value is fixed according to the value of the
woman - for it must be remembered all women are property. Indeed,
marriages are considered a very profitable speculation, the
girl's hand being in the father's gift, who marries her to any
one who will pay her price. This arrangement, however, is not
considered a simple matter of buying and selling, but delights in
the high-sounding title of "dowry." Slaves, cows, goats, fowls,
brass wire, or beads, are the usual things given for this species
of dowry. The marriage-knot, however, is never irretrievably
tied; for if the wife finds a defect in her husband, she can
return to her father by refunding the dowry; whilst the husband,
if he objects to his wife, can claim half-price on sending her
home again, which is considered fair, because as a second-hand
article her future value would be diminished by half. By this
system, it must be observed, polygamy is a source of wealth,
since a man's means are measured by the number of his progeny;
but it has other advantages besides the dowry, for the women work
more than the men do, both in and out of doors; and, in addition
to the females, the sons work for the household until they marry,
and in after life take care of their parents in the same way as
in the first instance the parents took care of them.
Twins are usually hailed with delight, because they swell the
power of the family, though in some instances they are put to
death. Albinos are valued, though their colour is not admired.
If death occurs in a natural manner, the body is usually either
buried in the village or outside. A large portion of the negro
races affect nudity, despising clothing as effeminate; but these
are chiefly the more boisterous roving pastorals, who are too
lazy either to grow cotton or strip the trees of their bark.
Their young women go naked; but the mothers suspend a little tail
both before and behind. As the hair of the negro will not grow
long, a barber might be dispensed with, were it not that they
delight in odd fashions, and are therefore continually either
shaving it off altogether, or else fashioning it after the most
whimsical designs.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 5 of 403
Words from 2059 to 2563
of 210958
