A man contracts with his wife when she is under age (48), and afterwards carries her forcibly to his home amidst her struggles and shrieks. A dower is reserved for her, so that, in case of widowhood, she may be able to buy a husband (59). When a present is paid to her parents, the bride is led to her husband’s hut, and he sends her for water, wood, and other necessaries. One of the wives is the superior (55). Adultery is punished by selling both offenders. The husband may turn off an unfaithful wife at pleasure; he makes her take all her children with her, unless he want to keep any himself (59). Wives do all the hard work, do not eat with their husbands, and are in great subjection. They name the child by shaving its head and rubbing it with oil (46). The women carry the children on their back as they go about their ordinary work. Many writers “impute the flat noses and pot bellies to this mode of carriage”. As soon as a person dies the neighbours are collected by loud cries and lamentations. They cry over the dead for several days. They give the deceased about a twelvemonth’s provisions, and make a point of securing the body from carrion-eaters (38). The brothers, sisters, and relations take possession of the goods of the dead man, and leave little to his children (97). If the deceased be a man, his wives shave their heads. [40, 43. All the Yao shave the head for any deceased relative.] If they drink liquor belonging to a European that they do not know, they ask him to drink first that they may see that there is no poison (98). They use no bread, but eat the flour of their various grains. They use the Indian corn when green, roasting it on the coals—or make flour by pounding in mortars. The houses are like beehives, and have pointed roofs: persons of quality have palisades round them. The domestic utensils are only earthen pots, calabashes, and baskets (C). They use bows, poisoned arrows and assagais. [Illustration: WOMAN OF WESTERN AFRICA POUNDING MEAL.] The Mahommedan negroes of the West Coast practise circumcision in some place remote from a village (52). The above customs of the Western African are taken from the older writers on the subject. After coming into contact with Europeans the natives are apt to change their more primitive manners. They are fond of discarding round huts in favour of square. The above illustration shows a basket very different from the East African ones, all of which are carried on the head. NORTHERN CENTRAL AFRICA.