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Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1 - Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's Government by James Richardson
page 109 of 292 (37%)
wedding. First came a group of women, dancing and throwing themselves
into a variety of slow, languid, and lascivious postures, to the sound
of some very primitive string-instrument. Towards this group all the
women of the neighbouring huts were gathering, some merely as
spectators, others bringing dishes of meat. Beyond was a crowd of men,
among whom was the bridegroom helping the musicians to make a noise.
These musicians were an old man and old woman, each above ninety years
of age. The latter beat a calabash with a stick, whilst the former drew
a bow over a single string tied to another calabash. The bridegroom had
got hold of a brass kettle, with which he supplied his contribution to
the din. Preparations for supper were going on; and, the harmony
announcing this fact, idlers were coming in flocks from the distant
hamlets and the fields. Two new huts had been built, one for the bride
and the other for the bridegroom.

These marriages produce very few children, which may partly arise from
licentiousness, but chiefly, no doubt, from misery. I afterwards saw the
burial of an old lady, which ceremony set the whole town in motion. The
women screamed in crowds, and a great number of men went outside the
walls to see the body consigned to its last resting-place. Yusuf
pretends that the burial took place two hours after decease, which is
the ordinary practice here, although thirty-two hours are said to be the
proper time.

To the 21st of May I was occupied in preparing a short report on Fezzan,
with statements of the expedition and other necessary documents.

We have had a grand dinner at the house of the Greek doctor Paniotti.
The Bey, Bim Bashaw, his adjutant, the treasurer, and others were
invited. The French have boasted of the number of their dishes, but I
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