In Africa descent through the mother is the rule, though there are exceptions, and these are increasing. The amusing account given by Miss Kingsley[108] of Joseph, a member of the Batu tribe in French Congo, strikingly illustrates the prevalence of the custom. When asked by a French official to furnish his own name and the name of his father, Joseph was wholly nonplussed. “My fader!” he said. “Who my fader?” Then he gave the name of his mother. The case is the same among the negroes. The Fanti of the Gold Coast may be taken as typical. Among them an intensity of affection (accounted for partly by the fact that the mothers have exclusive care of the children) is felt for the mother, while the father is almost disregarded as a parent, notwithstanding the fact that he may be a wealthy and powerful man. The practice of the Wamoimia, where the son of a sister is preferred in legacies, “because a man’s own son is only the son of his wife,” is typical. The Bush husband does not live with his wife, and often has wives in different places.[109] [108] _Travels_, p. 109. [109] Lippert, _Kulturgeschichte_, etc., Vol. II, p. 57. Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 274, 286. In Africa the clan system is firmly established, which explains the prevalence of mother-descent. Women, on the whole, take an important position, and here, as elsewhere, their inheritance of property enables them to maintain their equality with their husbands. Individual possession of wealth is allowed, but a married man usually cannot dispose of any property unless his wife agrees, and she acts as the representative of the children’s claims upon the father. The privilege that, according to Laing, the Soulima women have, of leaving their husbands when they please, is also proof of the maternal customs.[110] Moreover, among some tribes, the influence of the mothers as the heads of families extends to the councils of state; it is even said that the chiefs do not decide anything without their consent.[111] [110] Letourneau, pp. 306-307; citing Laing, _Travels in Western Africa_. [111] Giraud-Teulon, _Les origines du mariage et de la famille_, pp. 215 _et seq._