lunar blood. If this "breeding-in" ever existed, no trace of it
now remains; on the contrary, every care is taken to avoid
marriages of consanguinity. Bowdich, indeed, assures us that a
man may not look at nor converse with his mother-in-law, on pain
of a heavy, perhaps a ruinous fine; "this singular law is founded
on the tradition of an incest."

Marriage amongst the Mpongwe is a purely civil contract, as in
Africa generally, and so perhaps it will some day be in Europe,
Asia, and America. Coelebs pays a certain sum for the bride, who,
where "marriage by capture" is unknown, has no voice in the
matter. Many promises of future "dash" are made to the girl's
parents; and drinking, drumming, and dancing form the ceremony.
The following is, or rather I should say was, a fair list of
articles paid for a virgin bride. One fine silk hat, one cap, one
coat; five to twenty pieces of various cottons, plain and
ornamental; two to twenty silk kerchiefs; three to thirty jars of
rum; twenty pounds of trade tobacco; two hatchets; two cutlasses;
plates and dishes, mugs and glasses, five each; six knives; one
kettle; one brass pan; two to three Neptunes (caldrons, the old
term being "Neptune's pots"), a dozen bars of iron; copper and
brass rings, chains with small links, and minor articles ad
libitum. The "settlement" is the same in kind, but has increased
during the last forty years, and specie has become much more
common.[FN#10]

After marriage there is a mutual accommodation system suggesting
the cicisbeo or mariage a trois school; hence we read that wives,
like the much-maligned Xantippe, were borrowed and lent, and that
not fulfilling the promise of a loan is punishable by heavy