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condition is produced by a dual system of marriage [20] . A man may obtain a wife (a) by exchanging one of his own female relatives, or by buying a slave girl, [21]or (b) by paying a small bride-price. In the former case the children of the marriage belong to the family group of the father, in the latter they belong to the family group of the mother. An exchange wife is regarded as absolute property [22], whereas a wife obtained by a bride-price is regarded as merely lent by her family group. This exemplifies the misleading character of the term "purchase" where a bride-price is payable. But on the other hand it is a mistake to suppose that in Negro society the wife is never regarded as "bought", for among the Mambila the social status of an exchange wife does not differ from that of a slave wife. As many false views on this subject are being put forward by anthropologists it may be pointed out that among some tribes (e.g. the Bade of Bornu) there is a system of marriage by which a bride is obtained by (a) a large bride-price or (b) a small bride-price. Under the former the woman is regarded as bought out of her own group; under the latter as loaned. Under the former the children belong to the father's group, under the latter to the mother's. Among the Mambila an exchange wife loses her freedom, dissolution of marriage being practically impossible [23] . Her property becomes at her death the property of her husband [24], and her relatives have no influence with nor concern in her children. But a woman married under the purchase system is free to leave her husband when she pleases, and can take her children with her. Her children are, in fact, at the disposal of her relatives. Her property (and Mambila women acquire property, so much so that in former times a woman might be the owner of several slaves[25]) cannot be taken on her death by her husband; it is claimed by her own relatives. A woman married under the exchange system loses contact with her own relatives. A woman married under the "purchase" system remains in constant contact with her relatives. Indeed, she spends much of her time in her father's or maternal uncle's home. She bears her children there [26]. She will assist her husband on his farm, but she will also, in the same year, carry on a farm of her own in her father's village [27]. For if she has reason for leaving her husband she is unwilling to be dependent on her relatives for her food and for that of her children. [Notes11]

It will be seen, therefore, that the Mambila are both a

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