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VIRGINITY AND ITS TRADITIONS. owed an earlier rule of freedom and independence; it was a later notion to suppose that the latter women were debarred from sexual intercourse."

A French Army Surgeon, Dr. Jacobus X——, (Untrodden Fields of Anthropology: Charles Carrington: Paris, 1898), has some interesting remarks on the subject, and we offer no apology for reproducing them at length. Writing on the "Unimportance of the signs of virginity in the negress," he says:—

"The Negroes of Senegal do not attach, as the Arabs do, considerable importance to the presence of the real signs of virginity in young girls.…… The non-existence of the material proofs of virginity seldom give rise to any complaint on the part of the husband. ……Moreover, the size of the virile member of the Negro renders it difficult for him to detect any trick. The black bride, on the wedding night, shows herself in the art of simulating the struggles of an expiring virginity, and it is considered good taste for the girls to require almost to be raped. The least innocent young women are often the most clever at this game.

"Thus, throughout nearly all Senegal, the European, who has a taste for maindenheads, can easily be satisfied, provided he is willing to pay the price. At St. Louis women of ill-fame procure young girls, who bear the significant name of the

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