Confining attention to the Zulus, we shall begin by observing that they are polygamists and occupy circular huts of beehive formation, invariably constructed of wattles, thatched with grass, and supported inside by poles. Each wife has a hut of her own. There are, especially in larger homesteads or kraals,[38] additional huts for the occupation of young men, storing grain, etc. If, then, a man has four wives, we shall expect to find him in possession of five or six huts. Now, it is universal custom to arrange these huts in circular formation, from which method, indeed, the word "kraal" has evidently been derived. For sanitary reasons, the rule is to select for the kraal-site slightly sloping ground, though, when this is done, the floor of each hut is carefully levelled. At the highest point of the site is built the hut of the head or principal wife, not necessarily the one first married, whilst subsequent wives' huts are placed in a sequence determined by the kraal-owner, who, however, is compelled to act in terms of rigid tribal practice. The intervals between the huts are so regulated as to preserve the symmetry of the kraal as a whole. But, in connection with the circular arrangement referred to, must be considered the indispensable cattle-pen or enclosure, locally known as a cattle-kraal. This, too, is invariably round or oval, the gate being at the lowest, with one or two wickets in the topmost, portion. When it is realized that cattle are given for every woman taken to wife, the close association of cattle and their milk with the huts becomes more intelligible, though the fact of the pen being inside rather than outside the huts as arranged, is possibly also accounted for by the numerous lions, leopards and other beasts of prey that existed before the introduction of firearms, not to refer to human foes. The cattle handed over by the bridegroom to his bride's father are known as _lobolo_. For two or more generations it was customary for five, six or seven cattle to be so delivered (afterwards restricted by the Natal Government to a number not exceeding ten). This passing of cattle was not, as is commonly supposed, by way of purchase, but as compensation for loss of the girl's services, and, further, as a living and visible guarantee that she would receive proper treatment at the hands of her husband. The next essential to consider is this. When a young man marries, he either continues for a time in his father's kraal (his wife, of course, having a hut of her own), or moves, along with his mother (if she can be spared), to some site at a distance, approved by the Chief or his representative, and there proceeds to act on the same principles that governed his father's domestic affairs. In time, other sons leave to establish themselves on similar lines. And so, like the pumpkin plant (a favourite simile among the people), the family expands, throwing out fruitful off-shoots here and there, only, in their turn, to do the same.