The absence of any corporate government, civil or military, among the Pagans makes getting into touch with the people a slow and tedious process. They never, like the Fulani and Hausa tribes, had police, prisons and other adjuncts for ruling. Questions that affected the community were decided by public opinion. If there were persons who were a danger or a nuisance, the villagers assembled and settled what was to be done to the delinquents. They might deny an indictment and be tried “by ordeal”; or, waiving that test, the verdict would be death or being despatched to the Hausa country and sold for slaves. Pagan villages and hamlets which paid annual tribute of slaves to the Fulani Emirites disposed of their own desirables in that way, filling up the quota by raiding other villages. [Illustration: PAGAN FEMININE FASHIONS. (See page 269.)] * * * * * There are Pagan “Kings” and Chiefs, but their authority in many instances is slight and always confined to a limited area. The Burrum tribe—one of the largest—comprises 26 large villages, called towns, each with a separate and independent Chief. The regulations for succession to a chiefship are not uniform in all tribes. At Burrum towns the eldest brother of a deceased Chief takes his place; in the absence of eligible brothers, the son of the defunct occupies the post. With the Jarawas, the Headmen of a town elect a Chief from the family of the last one. It is usually the eldest brother. The Rukuba Chiefs, whose authority is stronger than in most Pagan tribes, nominate their successors, which is either a son or a brother, according to preference. * * * * * Marriage is of extreme simplicity in most quarters. The Teria folks, although so isolated in their lives that no other village speaks their language, are not alone in the manner of mating up. With them merely a nominal dowry passes for a wife. But no woman of theirs has more than two children, and as infantile mortality runs its course the town is rapidly becoming depopulated. The word dowry is used, though among all the tribes of Nigeria where the usage prevails it is payment by the husband to the girl’s father or guardian. The Jarawas have no regular dowry system. “Free love” is carried to the most extreme line and no claim by a man to a woman is allowed. When, however, a swain from another tribe comes wooing his affinity in this one he has to pay a dowry of a horse and five goats and then, in the event of infidelity of his wife, he is held to have a claim against his father-in-law. The Rukubas do not understand chastity on the part of unmarried girls. This tribe also has no regular practice of dowry, which is quite formal: perhaps either some beans, a hoe, two goats, pots, or 10 calabashes. If a wife leaves her husband he seeks out a discontented couple and pairs off with the lady.