The Sliilliiks and their Chief Mek.

33 how many oxen and sheep he requires in exchange for his daughter. When the price is agreed upon, the bridegroom brings the oxen to his future fatherin-law ; the hitter gives him his daughter, who, before entering it herself, must show the Sheik her new house. Once married, the bride must tell the bridegroom if she is a virgin. If a woman has been seduced by anyone, the day after her marriage she puts a wreath of grass on her head, and kneeling before her husband makes her confession to him. The latter takes her to the Sheik, who causes the seducer to be summoned, and condemns him, according to his means, to pay a certain number of oxen to the husband.

The sole industry of these people consists in the manufacture of straw mats, excellently made, and suited for sale in our shops. When the Shilluks succeed in killing much game, the meat is separated from the bones, cut into narrow strips and dried in the sun. When this is accomplished the meat is crushed between two stones, and reduced in this way into little pieces, which are eaten either raw or boiled. As the Shilluks, like the rest of the Africans, prefer the interior of the animals to the flesh, the former is more carefully distributed. From the bones, pounded and boiled, the}'' obtain the fat for rubbing their bodies.

All the peoples bordering on the country of the Shilluks are subject to the incursions of these latter. The Shilluk passes for a most intrepid warrior ; he never retires, even when in inferior numbers, before a foe. When the men go to battle the women follow them with food and water. After the war the widows return home to smear their faces, lamenting the loss of their husbands. If fortune is propitious and the booty abundant, the first share is for them.

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