56 TRAVELS IN AFRICA.

one of the girls withheld this proof of their fear of his tongue, or of their own consciousness of guilt. He remained with them until near midnight.

An instance of the manner in which the young men of that country obtain wives, also came under our observation. One of the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, having placed his affections, or rather desires, on a young girl at Kayaye, made the usual present of a few colas to her mother, who, without giving her daughter any intimation of the affair, consented to his obtaining her in any way he could.

Accordingly when the poor girl was employed preparing some rice for supper, she was seized by her intended husband, assisted by three or four of his companions, and carried off by force.

She made much resistance, by biting, scratching, kicking, and roaring most bitterly. Many, both men and women, some of them her own relations, who witnessed the affair, only laughed at the farce, and consoled her by saying that she would soon be reconciled to her situation.

Soon after our arrival at Kayaye, we paid a visit to the chief, or, as he is there called, the king of Katoba. He resides at a town of that name distant from Kayaye about twenty miles north. The road or path to it lies over a flat uncultivated country thinly covered with brush