ABSTRACT
The BaVenda, like other African tribes, have a polygynous system of marriage. The Zulu term lobola has been generally adopted in connexion with the cattle which pass from one family to another at every marriage, in place of the unsatisfactory terms bride-price or dowry. As is the custom with so many primitive people, throughout the marriage ceremonies and visits nothing may be given directly to the bride or her family, but everything must reach them through the agency of a third person. Through the makhadi the ornaments are given to the girl's mother, who shows them to her husband, who consents to his daughter wearing them on the following day. It appears that in accepting this gift the father-in-law signifies his final acceptance of the marriage contract, and after this, provided that the arranged vhumala is paid, he has no loophole by which he can change his mind and refuse his daughter.
