during the middle age of civilisation the right of parents over children, and especially over daughters, included in all countries the power to sell them. I purpose to consult on this subject all the great races of mankind, and confirmatory facts will not be wanting; I shall, indeed, have to limit myself in giving them.
Among the Hottentots and the Kaffirs, the exchange value of the country being cattle, the daughters are paid for in cows or oxen, and the price of the merchandise varies according to the fluctuations of demand and supply. Among the Great Namaquois Levaillant saw a conjugal affair concluded very cheaply, for a single cow;[1] but this price may be increased tenfold.[2] With the Corannas, the man makes his request leading an ox to the door of the girl. If he is allowed to kill the animal, it means that his demand is granted. In the contrary case, the suitor is sent away and sometimes stoned.[3] Hottentot girls are sometimes sold in their own tribe, and sometimes in a neighbouring one. At the time of Burchell's travels there was a lively traffic in girls between the Bachapin Hottentots and the Kora Hottentots.[4]
According to Livingstone, among the Makalolo Kaffirs the price paid to the father had also for its object the redemption of the right of ownership which he would otherwise have in the children of his daughter.
In Central Africa, in Senegambia, in the valley of the Niger, with the Mandingoes, the Peuls, etc., marriages are reduced to the sale of the girl by those having the right.[5] With the Timannis, says Laing, the pretendant first brings a jar of palm wine, or a little rum, to the parents. If his demand is favourably received the presents are accepted, and the giver is invited to return, which he does, bringing a second jar of wine, some kolas, some measures of stuff, and some chaplets. All is then definitely concluded, and they announce to the girl that she is married.[6]
