Lemina Now Claimed His
Wife; But The Second Husband Refused To Deliver Her Up, Insisting
That By The Laws Of Africa When A Man Has Been Three Years Absent
From His Wife, Without Giving Her Notice Of His Being Alive, The
Woman Is At Liberty To Marry Again.
After all the circumstances had
been fully investigated in an assembly of the chief men, it was
determined that the wife should make her choice, and be at liberty
either to return to the first husband, or continue with the second,
as she alone should think proper.
Favourable as this determination
was to the lady, she found it a difficult matter to make up her
mind, and requested time for consideration; but I think I could
perceive that first love would carry the day. Lemina was indeed
somewhat older than his rival, but he was also much richer. What
weight this circumstance had in the scale of his wife's affections I
pretend not to say.
On the morning of the 26th, as we departed from Tambacunda, Karfa
observed to me that there were no shea-trees farther to the westward
than this town. I had collected and brought with me from Manding
the leaves and flowers of this tree, but they were so greatly
bruised on the road that I thought it best to gather another
specimen at this place. The appearance of the fruit evidently
places the shea-tree in the natural order of Sapotae, and it has
some resemblance to the mudhuca tree described by Lieutenant Charles
Hamilton in the "Asiatic Researches," vol.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 148 of 167
Words from 39921 to 40183
of 45368
