Who
come to pay him compliment; and if he has been an important man, a
big man, the whole district will come, not in a squadron, but just
when it suits them, exactly as if they were calling on a live
friend. Thus it often happens that even a big woman is bankrupt by
the expense. I will not go into the legal bearings of the case
here, for they are intricate, and, to a great extent, only
interesting to a student of Negro law.
The Bantu women occupy a far inferior position in regard to the
rights of property to that held by the Negro women.
The disposal of wives after the death of the husband among the
M'pongwe and Igalwa is a subject full of interest; but it is, like
most of their law, very complicated. The brothers of the deceased
are supposed to take them - the younger brother may not marry the
elder brother's widows, but the elder brothers may marry those of
the younger brother. Should any of the women object to the
arrangement, they may "leave the family."
I own that the ground principle of African law practically is "the
simple plan that they should take who have the power, and they
should keep who can," and this tells particularly against women and
children who have not got living, powerful relations of their own.
Unless the children of a man are grown up and sufficiently powerful
on their own account, they have little chance of sharing in the
distribution of his estate; but in spite of this abuse of power
there is among Negroes and Bantus a definite and acknowledged Law,
to which an appeal can be made by persons of all classes, provided
they have the wherewithal to set the machinery of it in motion.
