Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo; and across the Great Desert, to Morocco, performed in the years 1824-1828, Vol. 1 (of 2)Caillié, René
History
Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo; and across the Great Desert, to Morocco, performed in the years 1824-1828, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Caillié, René
Sahara -- Description and travel; Sudan (Region) -- Description and travel
The hassanes are not obliged to conceal themselves from their new
relations; they meet as usual both before and after the marriage: their
feasts are also more gay and brilliant, and they admit the guéhués to
them. Whatever may be the difference between the ceremonial however,
the woman and her husband are in all cases subjected to the parents
of the latter.
When the marriage is celebrated, the husband may take away his wife
forthwith if he has a camel; in that case the mother-in-law supplies
the equipage for the beast, the cradle, and the carpet which lines it;
she adorns the daughter with her finest ornaments, gives her a mat
to lie upon, and a sheep-skin for a coverlid; the husband leads the
camel, and keeps his face covered till he is out of the camp. If he
has no camel, he leaves his wife in the camp till he can procure one,
for it would be a terrible disgrace if the woman were brought home to
her husband’s camp on a bullock. Sometimes he settles in his wife’s
camp, sends for his flocks and herds, and ceases to hide himself.
It often happens that the husband and wife cannot agree, or are
desirous of a separation; one of them then quarrels with the other,
and they part without having recourse to the marabouts who brought
them together. The one who wishes for a divorce makes a present to
the other. If there are children, the boys go with the father, and
the girls remain with their mother; if she is pregnant at the time,
and brings forth a boy, it is sent to the father who has it nursed
by a zenague.
When the husband dies, his wife goes into mourning and wears it four
months and ten days; during this time, she puts on her worst apparel,
receiving nobody into her tent but her nearest relations, and covering
her face when she goes out. The husband, on the other hand, does not
wear mourning for his wife, and may marry again the next day.
The law of inheritance is as follows: when a man dies his wife receives
one fourth of his goods; the mother of the deceased has a tenth of
the three other fourths, and the father a fourth of the remainder; the
children’s share, which is thus reduced to one half, is so divided,
that each boy shall have twice as much as each girl. When the husband
inherits, he takes half the property of his wife, and the other half
is divided among the grand-parents, and the grand-children, in the
same proportions. At the death of husband and wife without offspring,
the property goes back in the ascending line; for collateral branches
never inherit.
At the death of husband or wife, the uncle of the deceased becomes
guardian to the children, until they are eighteen, which is the age
of majority; the oxen which they are to inherit are confided to the
grandfather until that time. Children who are still at the breast are
sent to the zenagues, till they are two years old, and then return
to their uncle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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