Page:The evolution of marriage and of the family ... (IA evolutionofmarri00letorich).pdf/145

 individual often has ten wives and as many concubines; but princes or knights often have threefold or even tenfold that number. In consequence of this, about a third of the inhabitants are of princely or royal blood. As for the Fantis, polygamy is a source of riches, not only through the labour of the women, but also through the sale of the children, of whom a large and profitable trade is made. This trait of morals is not in the least peculiar to them; throughout black Africa the right of the father of a family includes that of selling the children, and he exercises it without scruple.

Naturally the last sentiments we may expect to find in African households are those of delicacy or moral nobility. Humble to servility in presence of the master, the women give the rein to their shameless excesses as soon as they can do it without danger.

In Bornou a wife never approaches her husband without kneeling. When a Poul orders one of his wives to prepare his supper, which implies that the master desires her company for the night, this signal favour is received with transports of joy. The chosen wife hastens to obey, and when the repast is ready she proudly goes to seek the master, thus humiliating her female colleagues, who retreat in confusion to their cabins to await their turn. But all this abject behaviour is merely by compulsion, and the women recoup themselves well for it whenever they have the chance.

The poor women of the Gaboon, who are lacerated by whips for no offence, do not understand chastity, and their intrigues constantly provoke conflicts and palavers between the men of the villages. The obscenity of the Monboottoo women astonished Schweinfurth, well acquainted as he was with negro customs. The Bambarra women easily forget conjugal fidelity for a bead necklace, a fine waist-cloth, etc.; and, as in so many other countries, the husband-proprietors