In civilised countries the destiny of the new arrival is left to unfold itself gradually. No definite course is chalked out. In the life of the civilised infant there is consequently a great amount of uncertainty and plot interest, especially with reference to marriage, as every romance bears witness to. Here this is not the case. Take the instance of a little girl. All the lovely day dreams, all the pleasures of hope and pictures of fancy are rudely set aside long before she has reached sweet seventeen. While the child is yet unborn she may be sought in marriage. This is often done. Very usually the ardent suitor will wait until it is known whether the child is to be a boy or a girl. Then he begins at once to ask for her. He goes with his suit to the Surety (Angoswe), whose name we intended to translate “undertaker,” only the Awilo (34) usurped that word. The Surety promises to attend to it, and tells him to come back soon. When he returns in a day or two, if he has not been forestalled, the Surety refers him to the mother. The first comer is almost always successful, especially if he bring a decent present, and the infant is at once betrothed. When the mother’s consent is given the future son-in-law offers the present which he has taken with him, and promises to keep the little girl supplied with clothes. Her clothing, of course, is nothing but a scanty loin cloth. It is the acceptance of this cloth and the wearing of it that is the great token of betrothal. The same word that is used for betrothing a girl is also applied to the selecting of a piece of ground for hoeing. A person who wants a new farm goes forth and makes his selection. After doing so he takes bunches of long grass and ties round the trees in that field. Everyone that passes knows by the grass put upon the trees that the field has been taken possession of. Anyone that interfered with it would be liable to have an action brought against him. In the same way the intending husband points to the cloth that he has given to the girl, and says, “She is mine”. If any one interfere with her the intending husband may put him to death. A boy may also be betrothed in his early days. His guardians will try to secure a girl about his own age, by arranging with other guardians that may have a female child to dispose of. If a girl have a husband betrothed to her she often cooks food for him. But her claim on him is not of an exclusive nature, as he may have more wives than one, while the misfortune of an unhappy union is more bitter to her, as she is excluded from others that she might prefer.