As soon as the bath and _oiling_ were over, six girls issued from the hut, bearing the glistening bride on a snow-white sheet to the home of her spouse. The transfer was soon completed, and the burden deposited on the nuptial bed. The dwelling was then closed and put in charge of sentinels; when the plump plenipotentiary approached the Anglo-Saxon, and handing him the scant fragments of the bridal dress, pointed to the door, and, in a loud voice, exclaimed: "White man, this authorizes you to take possession of your wife!" It may naturally be supposed that our radiant cockney was somewhat embarrassed by so public a display of matrimonial happiness, at six o'clock in the afternoon, on the thirtieth day of a sweltering June. Joseph could not help looking at me with a blush and a laugh, as he saw the eyes of the whole crowd fixed on his movements; but, nerving himself like a man, he made a profound _salaam_ to the admiring multitude, and shaking my hand with a convulsive grip, plunged into the darkness of his abode. A long pole was forthwith planted before the door, and a slender strip of white cotton, about the size of a "_tontongee_," was hoisted in token of privacy, and floated from the staff like a pennant, giving notice that the commodore is aboard. No sooner were these rites over, than the house was surrounded by a swarm of women from the adjacent villages, whose incessant songs, screams, chatter, and _tom-tom_ beatings, drowned every mortal sound. Meanwhile, the men of the party--whose merriment around an enormous _bonfire_ was augmented by abundance of liquor and provisions--amused themselves in dancing, shouting, yelling, and discharging muskets in honor of the nuptials. Such was the ceaseless serenade that drove peace from the lovers' pillow during the whole of that memorable night. At dawn, the corpulent matron again appeared from among the wild and reeling crowd, and concluding her functions by some mysterious ceremonies, led forth the lank groom from the dark cavity of his hot and sleepless oven, looking more like a bewildered wretch rescued from drowning, than a radiant lover fresh from his charmer. In due time, the bride also was brought forth by the matrons for the bath, where she was anointed from head to foot with a vegetable butter,--whose odor is probably more agreeable to Africans than Americans,--and fed with a bowl of broth made from a young and tender pullet. The marriage _fetes_ lasted three days, after which I insisted that Joseph should give up nonsense for business, and sobered his ecstasies by handing him a wedding-bill for five hundred and fifty dollars. There is hardly a doubt that he considered COOMBA very _dear_, if not absolutely adorable! FOOTNOTE: