92 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

a piece of gold. A small gold coin is the customary present ; it is slightly wetted with the tongue and then pressed upon the girl's forehead, who dances away in high delight. Happily we were spared this honour !

On the following day the same kind of entertainment was continued ; and on the third afternoon the bride, who was only twelve years old, was taken in procession round the town. A canopy, which completely hid her from view, was held over her by four men, and she was accompanied by a number of women, who sang and shouted as they went, while several men with drums and flutes discoursed sweet music before her. As there are no baths, excepting in the river, at Lado, the usual ceremony of bathing, which forms a great feature in the marriages of Egypt Proper, had to be dispensed with, and the bride was taken straight to the bridegroom's house, which she entered, accompanied by her mother, a near female relation, and nurse. After her arrival, the bridegroom left the house and perambulated the town, calling on the way at the mosque, where prayer was offered. Being an officer, he was preceded by the soldiers' band ; he walked between two friends, and, according to custom, stopped often on the way, as the bridegroom should not appear impatient to claim his bride. The bride, of course, could hear the sound of the procession long before it returned ; and as soon as the people near the