Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-13
Queer Customs of Courtships and Marriages. of Black Continent Tribes
Copyright. 1908. bv rr,,t q

Copyright, 1908. by Frank O. Carpenter,
- ROkE HILL, Northwestern
n Rhodesia.-Cspeciai C,rrespona-
O ence Of The Bee)-Before
-.-E4 leave the heart Of the black
IPHfRM continent. TO start south for
ns the white mans Africa. that
and OF gold and diamonds below the Fam
Des' l went to write a letter about the
queer customs OF our African sisters. They
are an important half Of this dark-com.
plexioned world and every nation and tr bs
has It's own ways Of treating them bavo
already written Of the ANN maid.
ems along the coast OF the Mediterranean.
they so about clad all In white or black
each having only a single eyehole in her
garments to find her way along the str cts.
4 nave written OF the f~air-skinned Jewessea
ol Iunls' They dress In jackets and trous-
ers' ana a pair of their embroidered
preeches often costs as much as 1900 I
nave told you how they are faftened for
marriage by special feeding ana how a
popular belle often weighs 300 pounds. 7
nave described the women of Tripoli and
bsypt' where the girls cover their faces
with long wells when they 60 out OF
doors, and also the dancing maidens Of
the Sahara, called the Ouled UaIls. who
have brazen, bare faces and paint their
WANaA NUM- aAAa ~
finger nails and toe nails red with henna.
Farther down the continent 1 learned
much about the women Of the British pos
sessions, where John Bull is now reRu-
latlng the marriages., fixing the price of
brides. old and young, lean and fat, good
looking and the reverse, at So apiece, and
still farther south about the women now
ruled by the Germans, who are allowed To
marry as they please, according to Gus
tom. l have also notes before me gath
cred during my travels in Portuguese East
Africa, Mashonaland, Matabeleland and
here on the edge of the Congo Free State.
Indeed, the material is such that l hardly
know where to begin, and shall dig into
my notes, jumping from one place to an
other, as the subject demands.
%
with Bride.
Let me start with the description Ct a
wedding procession which / saw in Ger
man East Africa, on the lower edge of
Victoria Nyanza. The people there are
known as Basukumas. There are half a
million of them and they are considered a
strong race. They are Bantu negroes. who
dress In cowskins and cottons and who
have cattle, sheep and goats. When a
young man there wants a wife he pays her
father fifty sheep for her or agrees to
work for the old man a number of years.
All marriage arrangements are made by
go-betweens and the matchmaker brings
the bride to the groom. In the meanwhile
the chief bridesmaid has arranged the
groom's hut for the occasion and a new
bed is made, consisting Of a framework
OF wood with a mattress OF oxskins. The
bridesmaid is paid a sheep for this work.
After this she goes with the matchmaker
who might be called another bridesmaid,
10 the house of the bride and brings her
home in great style.
1t was such a procession that I stopped
one morning on its way to the groom. 1t
consisted of a score or more Of women
dressed in garments OF cowskins and cot
ton. yelling and singing as they danced
along about a. queer-looking figure which
laboriously moved In the center. At
first I could not make out what it was.
1t looked like a woman with a gigantic
hump, wrapped around with bright figured
Indian cotton. AS the party came closer
this figure turned sidewise. The hump
then took the shape of a human form and
I could see that the woman was evidently
carrying a sister or brother under her
calico gown. I handed my camera to
my SON Jack, who was with me, and ac-
costed the lady. She laughed. and 1 at
tempted to make out what kind of q
creature she carried. 1 couid see TWO little
black '~tootsie wootsies'' sticking out at the
front, and by the outline Of the stretched
cotton could see that II covered a lusty
girl who was holding on by her arms to
the woman who carried her. Her hands
were clasped together over the bridesmaids
breast and the bridesmaid was also sup
porting her by holding her ankles, which
stuck out on each side the body. I put
my hand on the woman's back and the
bride squirmed. but when I attempted to
touch her bare feet the bridesmaid OBJ
jected. All this took but a few moments
and as I stepped back the procession went