seem interesting; she attends the _Dîpâradhana_, the waving of lighted lamps in front of the deity at sunset every day; sings hymns in his praise, dances before his presence, goes round with him in his processions with lights in hand. After the procession, she sings a song or two from Jayadêva’s _Gîtagôvinda_ and with a few lullaby hymns, her work for the night is over. When she grows physically unfit for these duties, she is formally invalided by a special ceremony, _i.e._ _Tôtuvaikkuka_, or the laying down of the ear-pendants. It is gone through at the Maha Raja’s palace, whereafter she becomes a _Tâikkizhavi_ (old mother), entitled only to a subsistence-allowance. When she dies, the temple contributes to the funeral expenses. On her death-bed, the priest attends and after a few ceremonies immediately after death, gets her bathed with saffron-powder.”(202) § 3. Sacred Men and Women in West Africa. (M48) Still more instructive for our present purpose are the West African customs. Among the Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast “recruits for the priesthood are obtained in two ways, viz. by the affiliation of young persons, and by the direct consecration of adults. Young people of either sex dedicated or affiliated to a god are termed _kosio_, from _kono_, ‘unfruitful,’ because a child dedicated to a god passes into his service and is practically lost to his parents, and _si_, ‘to run away.’ As the females become the ‘wives’ of the god to whom they are dedicated, the termination _si_ in _võdu-si_ [another name for these dedicated women], has been translated ‘wife’ by some Europeans; but it is never used in the general acceptation of that term, being entirely restricted to persons consecrated to the gods. The chief business of the female _kosi_ is prostitution, and in every town there is at least one institution in which the best-looking girls, between ten and twelve years of age, are received. Here they remain for three years, learning the chants and dances peculiar to the worship of the gods, and prostituting themselves to the priests and the inmates of the male seminaries; and at the termination of their novitiate they become public prostitutes. This condition, however, is not regarded as one for reproach; they are considered to be married to the god, and their excesses are supposed to be caused and directed by him. Properly speaking, their libertinage should be confined to the male worshippers at the temple of the god, but practically it is indiscriminate. Children who are born from such unions belong to the god.”(203) These women are not allowed to marry since they are deemed the wives of a god.(204)