258 WHERE LIVES PRIMITIVE MAN times to indicate number. Cows would have been a welcome alternative to him, to the number of ten as equivalent, but they are almost impossible to obtain, so much store does the Nuer set by them. The lady was obviously exceedingly interested in what would be my decision, and doubtless had visions of riches in niaow and blue beads beyond dreams of avarice—clothing did not appeal to her ; the paleness of my colour seemed by no means objectionable, and rotundness of figure in this land of the thin was a feature of beauty. Fortunately, matrimony being more a matter of business than of sentiment, I was enabled without great offence to decline, by means of a method of barter, as he would not come down to my figure, neither would I increase to his. Moreover, Belal was careful to explain that I was a peculiar person, and did not in the least appreciate the fair sex—in fact, I could only put up with one wife at home in my own country I Though a matrimonial failure in the land of the Nuers, it did not deter another aspirant, and scruples as to respecting the feelings of the refused began to get blunted, especially as contemplation of their attractions caused one to sympathize with the feelings of James Brunton Stephens, the Queensland poet, who sang : " Daughter of Eve, draw near ; I would behold thee. Good heavens ! could ever arm of man enfold thee ? Did the same Nature that made Phryne mould thee?"

Apparently the marriage " ceremony " merely