260 WHERE LIVES PRIMITIVE MAN the head, as a consequence, by some lusty young wife consumed with a desire to anticipate Nature.

Naturally, a Sheikh, possessing a greater number of wives (a doubtful advantage at his age), runs correspondingly greater risks, and the temptation to Papa Shilluk's wives to terminate the marriage contract by putting a period to the duration of his trials and troubles, thereby obtaining a healthy mate for themselves, must be considerable. It must be remembered that adultery on their part is punishable by a serious fine in cattle. All this cause of worry to an ailing man is avoided by the mental dexterity of Nuer lawgivers.

Strictly speaking, a widow does not marry again, and this gives rise to a custom which has a partial counterpart in the Old Testament. She certainly mates with a man, but she is not considered his wife, and her children by him are not credited to him in the family tree, but to the husband defunct.

If with her new mate she prove barren, as proxy for her dead husband she " marries " some other girl, and enlists the assistance of her male friend to raise up seed to the dear departed. Thus it occurs that the child of a dead man and his widow may be flesh of neither of them, but by the means of procreation by deputies the continuance of the family name is assured. The system, if adopted in Europe, might prove popular with the representatives of old families who are "petering out."

On the death of a Nuer he will probably remain on the scene of his marital troubles and joys, for