I) tells us expressly that to be told that he is light-colored "would
be esteemed a very poor compliment by a Kaffir."
The following passage, which occurs in another of Theal's stories
(107), shows how unceremonious Kaffir "courtship" is in relation to
the girl's wishes.
"Hlakanyana met a girl herding some goats.
"He said: 'Where are the boys of your village, that the
goats are herded by a girl?'
"The girl answered: 'There are no boys in the village.'
"He went to the father of the girl and said: 'You must
give me your daughter to be my concubine, and I will
herd the goats.'
"The father of the girl agreed to that. Then Hlakanyana
went with the goats, and every day he killed one and
ate it till all were done."
LOWER THAN BEASTS
If we now leave the degraded and licentious Kaffirs, going northward
in Eastern Africa, into the region of the lakes--Nyassa, Victoria
Nyanza and Albert Nyanza--embracing British Central, German East, and
British East Africa, we are doomed to disappointment if we expect to
find conditions more favorable to the growth of refined romantic or
conjugal love. We shall not only discover no evidence of what is
vaguely called Platonic love, but we shall find men ignoring even
Plato's injunction (_Laws_, VIII., 840) that they should not be lower
than beasts, which do not mate till they have reached the age of
maturity.
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