SIIILLUK, NUBA, TAKELE, ETC. 165 are alone to be expected ; they will, indeed, rather suffer death than allow themselves to be forced by ill-treatment to the perfonnance of even the most trivial office.

Polygamy is not a genei*al custom, each man takes to himself only one or two women; the sheikhs alone have several wives. When a man is aljout to lead a girl away as his wife, he treats firet with the father concerning the price at which he will deliver her up. The amount of course varies much, and depends on the youth, beauty, and other advantageous qualifications of the chosen bride. The dowry consists generally in a certain number of cows, goats, or sheep, which become the personal property of the newly-married woman. As soon as the agreement and business transactions are settled, the bridegroom proceeds, accompanied by all the young men in the village, to the hut of his selected wife, who is delivered by the mother and nearest relations, with some simple ceremonies, to the bridegroom ; and he now leads her with song, drums, and fifes, into his own hut, where a feast is prepared for all his guests. In conclusion there is a ball at which all assist, and thus the marriage festivities terminate. In their family circles these negroes live very peaceably, and if a case ever occur that a husband for any reason se})arate from his wife, she goes back to her parents, keeps her marriage portion, and takes every thing she has received from her husband away with her.