Turning to Africa we find that, among the Touaregs, a girl may select out of her suitors the one whom she herself prefers.[1356] As to the West African negroes, Mr. Reade informed Mr. Darwin that “the women, at least among the more intelligent Pagan tribes, have no difficulty in getting the husbands whom they may desire, although it is considered unwomanly to ask a man to marry them.”[1357] The accuracy of this statement is confirmed by several travellers,[1358] and it seems to hold good for other parts of Africa. Among the Shulis, according to Dr. Felkin, the women have a voice in the selection of their husbands.[1359] The Mádi girls, says Emin Pasha, enjoy great freedom, and are able to choose companions to their liking.[1360] Among the Marutse, “free women who have not been given away or sold as slaves are allowed to choose what husbands they please.”[1361] The young Kafirs endeavour generally at first to gain the consent of the girls, for it is, as Mr. Leslie remarks, “a mistake to imagine that a girl is sold by her father in the same manner, and with the same authority, with which he would dispose of a cow.”[1362] And, among the Hottentots[1363] and Bushmans,[1364] when a girl has grown up to womanhood without having previously been betrothed, her lover must gain her approbation, as well as that of the parents. In works by ancient writers we find statements of the same kind. Among the Cathæi, according to Strabo, the girls chose their husbands, and the young men their wives;[1365] and the same is said by Herodotus of the women of Lydia.[1366] In Indian and old Scandinavian tales virgins are represented as having the power to dispose of themselves freely.[1367] Thus it was agreed that Skade should choose for herself a husband among the Asas, but she was to make her choice by the feet, the only part of their persons she was allowed to see.[1368]