In the Mission School at Zomba there were many couples of twelve years and under, that were engaged to each other. The boys could tell what girls they were to marry, and the girls could also point out their husbands. The marriages of the natives are generally very happy. This result gives some countenance to Dr. Johnson’s view that there would be more happiness if all marriages were made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The parents seem never to doubt that they know the “minds” of their sons and daughters better than they can do themselves. At the same time I have seen many cases where the girl would have done anything rather than marry the man that had been assigned her. 49.—INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. While the mother goes about her ordinary pursuits she carries her child upon her back. Native children learn to walk and to talk much sooner than white children do. They are put upon the ground at an early stage; little supervision is exercised, and they are accustomed to eat handfuls of mud. There seems to be no very good food for young children, consequently they are suckled for a long time. By and by they get a species of thin porridge (likoko). No cradles are used; the child sleeps on a mat. Very often it will be asleep on its mother’s back as she is hard at work under the tropical sun. It is not common to see a mother beat her child; in fact, there is very little occasion. There are no clothes to soil, no house to spoil, no windows to smash, no dishes to break, no spoons to lose; the child may play with anything that it can find; it may go where it likes without going into much danger, and without destroying flower-beds or favourite plants! 50.—BOYHOOD. As the child grows, his life is equally wild and free. He has to pay no penalties to the requirements of polite society, he has to go through no ordeal of being taught to sit properly at table, to hold his knife and fork properly, and such things—Simple child of nature, thou hast neither table nor chair, knife nor fork! He has no School Board to confine him, his time is all his own; he goes forth to swim in the brooks, or play in the woods. There is no clock in the hall that will tell tales about his long stay; he watches the course of the great clock in the face of the heavens, which he learns to read with astonishing accuracy. As darkness sets in he must go home (from danger of wild beasts), and may be seen returning to the village. Perhaps he carries a great bag full of beetles or of field-rats, which are to serve as a relish (mboga) to his evening meal. Possibly he is laden with wild fruits; in any case he has the appearance of brightness and buoyancy that an English child has when returning from a pic-nic. He carries his little bow and arrows, and is accompanied by two or three companions like himself.