MISTAKES AND FALSE NEWS 361 fired a fowling-piece into the air, but nothing came of it. All was silent again, but we passed the night in watching, for we knew that that very morning a man wearing a white bubu had tried to tamper with our coolies, and to frighten away the native traders. He had shouted from the left bank that Amadu had let loose the Silibs upon us, giving them permission to make war on us, and promising them the blessing of Allah if they beat us. No wonder such a coincidence as this put us on our guard.

The next morning Mahmadu explained the uproar of the preceding evening. It had been a question not of an attack on us, but of a wedding amongst the Koyraberos.

He told us a marriage is never consummated until the bridegroom has literally torn away his bride from her people, and the rite of abduction, for a regular rite it is, is a very exciting ceremony. When the suitor comes to pay the dowry it is customary for him to give his fianch it is considered good form for the parents to shrug their shoulders, and pretend that the sum offered is not enough ; millet is very dear just now, they say, and they cannot afford wedding festivities worthy of their daughter. They must keep her at home until after the harvest, and so on.

The young man goes home then with bowed head and a general air of depression. When he gets back to his own village he calls his relations and friends together, chooses out the best runners and those who can shout the loudest, and with them returns to seize the object of his choice. He finally succeeds in taking her away in the midst of screams, yells, and the sham curses of her relations, who are really full of joy at the marriage. The so-called ravishers of the dusky bride are pursued to the last tents of the village, and the ceremony concludes, as do all weddings amongst the negroes, with a feast such as that of Gamache immortalized in Do7i Quixote.