her, mother, brothers, and relations were paraded on
the strand; tom-toms and horns were beaten and blown; and, at last,
the suffering missionary waddled to the canoe to receive the veiled
form of the slender bride.

The process of removal was accompanied by much merriment. Our
corpulent porter groaned as she "larded the lean earth" beneath her
ponderous tread; but, in due course of labor and patience, she sank
with her charge on the bamboo couch of Master Joseph.

As soon as the bearer and the burden were relieved from their fatigue,
the maiden was brought to the door, and, as her long concealing veil
of spotless cotton was unwrapped from head and limbs, a shout of
admiration went up from the native crowd that followed us from the
quay to the hovel. As Joseph received the hand of COOMBA, he paid the
princely fee of a slave to the matron.

COOMBA had certainly not numbered more than sixteen years, yet, in
that burning region, the sex ripen long before their pallid sisters of
the North. She belonged to the Soosoo tribe, but was descended from
Mandingo ancestors, and I was particularly struck by the uncommon
symmetry of her tapering limbs. Her features and head, though
decidedly African, were not of that coarse and heavy cast that marks
the lineaments of her race. The grain of her shining skin was as fine
and polished as ebony. A melancholy languor subdued and deepened the
blackness of her large eyes, while her small and even teeth gleamed
with the brilliant purity of snow. Her mouth was rosy and even
delicate; and, indeed, had not her ankles, feet, and wool, manifested
the unfortunate types of her kindred, COOMBA, the daughter of
Mongo-Yungee, might have passed for a _chef d'oeuvre in black
marble_.

The scant dress of the damsel enabled me to be so minute in this
catalogue of her charms; and, in truth, had I not inspected them
closely, I would have violated matrimonial etiquette as much as if I
failed to admire the _trousseau_ and gifts of a bride at home.
Coomba's costume was as innocently primitive as Eve's after the
expulsion. Like all maidens of her country, she had beads round her
ankles, beads round her waist, beads round her neck, while an
abundance of bracelets hooped her arms from wrist to elbow. The white
_tontongee_ still girdled her loins; but Coomba's climate was her
mantuamaker, and indicated more necessity for ornament than drapery.
Accordingly, Coomba was obedient to Nature, and troubled herself ver