use of raiment, which, in all
likelihood, he first of all obtains by theft. There is no difference
between the sexes during their early years. A sense of shame or
modesty seems altogether unknown or disregarded; nor is it unusual to
find ten or a dozen of both genders huddled promiscuously beneath a
roof whose walls are not more than fifteen feet square.

True to his nature, a Vey bushman rises in the morning to swallow his
rice and cassava, and crawls back to his mat which is invariably
placed in the sunshine, where he _simmers_ till noontide, when another
wife serves him with a second meal. The remainder of daylight is
passed either in gossip or a second _siesta_, till, at sundown, his
other wives wash his body, furnish a third meal, and stretch his
wearied limbs before a blazing fire to refresh for the toils of the
succeeding day. In fact, the slaves of a household, together with its
females, form the entire working class of Africa, and in order to
indoctrinate the gentler sex in its future toils and duties, there
seems to be a sort of national seminary which is known as the
Gree-gree-bush.

The Gree-gree-bush is a secluded spot or grove of considerable extent
in the forest, apart from dwellings and cultivated land though
adjacent to villages, which is considered as consecrated ground and
forbidden to the approach of men. The establishment within this
precinct consists of a few houses, with an extensive area for
exercise. It is governed chiefly by an old woman of superior skill and
knowledge, to whose charge the girls of a village are intrusted as
soon as they reach the age of ten or twelve. There are various
opinions of the use and value of this institution in the primitive
polity of Africa. By some writers it is treated as a religious
cloister for the protection of female chastity, while by others it is
regarded as a school of licentiousness. From my own examination of the
establishment, I am quite satisfied that a line drawn between these
extremes will, most probably, characterize the "bush" with accuracy,
and that what was originally a conservative seclusion, has degenerated
greatly under the lust of tropical passions.

As the procession of novices who are about to enter the grove
approaches the sanctuary, music and dancing are heard and seen on
every side. As soon as the maidens are received, they are taken by the
_gree-gree_ women to a neighboring stream, where they are washed, and
undergo an operation whic