Men Come Up With Deep Gashes On Their Heads;
And One, Who Had Burned His Father's House, I Saw Making A Profound Bow
To Mr. Canto, And Volunteering To Explain Why He Did The Deed.
There is also a sort of fraternity of freemasons, named Empacasseiros,
into which no one is admitted unless he is an expert hunter,
and can shoot well with the gun.
They are distinguished
by a fillet of buffalo hide around their heads, and are employed as messengers
in all cases requiring express. They are very trustworthy, and,
when on active service, form the best native troops the Portuguese possess.
The militia are of no value as soldiers, but cost the country nothing,
being supported by their wives. Their duties are chiefly
to guard the residences of commandants, and to act as police.
The chief recreations of the natives of Angola are marriages and funerals.
When a young woman is about to be married, she is placed in a hut alone
and anointed with various unguents, and many incantations are employed
in order to secure good fortune and fruitfulness. Here, as almost every where
in the south, the height of good fortune is to bear sons.
They often leave a husband altogether if they have daughters only.
In their dances, when any one may wish to deride another,
in the accompanying song a line is introduced, "So and so has no children,
and never will get any." She feels the insult so keenly
that it is not uncommon for her to rush away and commit suicide.
After some days the bride elect is taken to another hut,
and adorned with all the richest clothing and ornaments that the relatives
can either lend or borrow.
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