mals. And usually everybody in a village
is related in some near or distant way; but it does not keep them from
fighting occasionally.

The Bakuba are monogamists. A young man sees a girl whom he likes; he
has met her in his own town or at some other, or perhaps at a market
place or a dance. He sends her tokens of love, bananas, plantains,
peanuts, dried fish or grasshoppers. She in turn sends him similar
presents.

They often meet, sit down on the green, laugh and talk together. I have
seen the girls often blush and really put on airs. He asks her to have
him, if she has no one else on her heart, and tells her that he wants no
one to eat the crop that is in the field but her. The girl and the
parents both agree.

On a set day when the market is in full blast, with hundreds of people
from everywhere, the young man and girl, with their young friends, all
dressed in their best robes, meet and march Indian file through the open
market and receive congratulations from everybody.

The new bride and groom continue their march to the already prepared
house of the young man. A feast of goat, sheep, monkey, chicken or fish,
with plenty of palm wine is served and all is ended with a big dance.

The women of the king's household select their own husbands, and no man
dare decline; and no man would ever be so rude or presumptuous as to ask
for the hand and heart of royalty.

The husband knows that he must cut down the forest and assist in
planting corn, millet, beans, pease, sweet potatoes and tobacco, hunt
for game, bring the palm wine, palm nuts, make his wife's garments and
repair the house. He is never to be out after 8 o'clock at night unless
sitting up at a wake or taking part in a public town dance.

The young man before marriage sends a certain number of well-woven mats
and so many thousands of cowries to the parents of the girl as a dowry.
If they cease to love and must part, even twenty rainy seasons from
marriage, the dowry or its equivalent is returned to the man.

The wife is expected to shave and anoint the husband's body with palm
oil, keep his toenails and fingernails manicured, bring water and wood,
help in the field, cook his food, and take care of the children.

I have had many a man come and ask to buy love medicine. They think
charms and medicine can do anything. I always told them, of course, that
it was a matter of the girl's heart, and charms or medicine could not
help out in their "love affairs."