The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-23
BUYING GAIA GIRLS
A FORM oFsLAvETRA THAT'S
ALIVE I'm AFRICA.

Zunzfbnr1 Women Servants Are Not
For hire, but Are Boueht and Sold
outright For Cnsh-The way the
transactions Are
In Mozambique, the Portuguese ter
ritory on the east coast of Africa, one
does not hire women servants. II one
wants q manservant, that is another
matter.
There are always Zanzibar boys,
gown looking robes, without sleeves;
barefooted and unrtvaled as cooks and
waiters-ideal Wallets.
Women servant are quite u different
story. Zanzibari women are not for
hire, SO the white woman or the bach
elor or the clerk DESTROYS OF obtaining
q domestic buys q native GAIA girl
from the camera municipal. or town
council. of the nearest town.
The purchase is simple, but binding,
as far as the girl is concerned.
For Instance, that young man is at
Delagoa Bay to push a certain firms
goods. He is allowed so much for ex-
penses, commission and salary.
He will gravitate to the club, becom-
ing q member and sleeping there I'M
til such time as he should have secured
a tiny cottage on the Ponta Vamalia,
or, IS the British call the high ground
above the harbor. Reuben's point.
A table, two or three cane chairs and
a ca1np bedstead complete h inside
furnishings. On the step, or veranda,
will be arranged a small cooking stove
and washtub, but naturally he will, If
from home, be at a loss what to do as
far as cooking and Homework is con-
cerned.
"Oh," his friends at the club will
say, buy a girl. You'll get q decent
one for anything owe $50"
But how?' replies the newcomer.
isn't that slavery?"
"'Nhen you're In Rome. We don't
call it that here. Wen run 0 up one
of the rivers and you can look around
the kraals (villages) till you see one you
fancy. Wen find out her name, and
the camera municipal will do the rest"
Perhaps on the following Saturday
or Sunday some Of the older white resi-
dents will take the newcomer up the
Koomati or Maputa river in q steam
launch, go ashore at some kraal OF 9th
er and have q look around
The GAIA girls are by nc means bad
looking. Often their black hair is long
and silky, their noses are not spatulate,
as in most other native races, their fig
ures are beautifully rounded and grace
full, the skin being either chocolate col
or or lighter. These differences from
other tribes can probably be traced to
q strain Of Portuguese blood of some
distant ancestor.
The newcomer will have these things
pointed out to him, and from among
49, ,-- y --- J~ I'll ~~lo Nv, of1@NcN
one that may take his fancy.
Els friends will find out her name,
and after partaking of native spirits
and mealie cakes with the "induna," or
headman, they will return.
On the Monday the will
appear before the camera municipal,
stating that he needs a girl for his
house. He will be asked if he wishes
for any particular one. Yes he Will
say. giving her name and the name OF
her kraal.
= Portuguese official then visits the
kraal and purchases the girl from her
father for SO much, and q few days
later the purchaser is informed that
if he will call at the camera municipal
he can receive his bargain.
He goes down and signs a document
to the effect that he has paid so much
LOT the SlEl, anu III COllSlucld u
hat payment she is henceforth his
own particular property, to do with as
he will, in just the same manner as If
she were q table or n chair.
The usual price is from $50 to $1Co,
according to her social standing, looks
or figure and the ages from q market
able point of view range from twelve
to sixteen years.
The Portuguese make so much on
each girl sold, and, strange to say,
neither the girl nor the parents seem to
object to this dealing in human flesh
ii fact, the parents often bring their
daughters over to the mainland for the
purpose Of disposing of them ut private
sale, but most of the transactions pass
through the hands of the Portuguese
they don't like TO lose the commission.
Some of the girls bought in this man.
ner soon pick up English or whatever
language their lord and master may
speak, and most of them are fairly
we'll treated: but, equally, of course,
some of them fall into the hands OF
brutcs who treat them shanefully.-
Philadelphia North American.
Eating From the Fingers.
1t is sometimes hard to decide what