ABSTRACT
The peoples of South Africa, the High Commission territories, and Southern Rhodesia are patrilineal and marry by cattle payment. The head of the polygynous joint family controlled all its property. One might say that betrothal was regarded as the first step of a series of acts which would inevitably culminate in marriage, and, therefore, as much more than a mere public announcement of the couple’s intention to marry. The principle that legitimacy depends upon the payment of cattle applied also to the status of children born before marriage. The urban areas in which family life has been investigated are of different types. The most immediately striking contrast between the towns and the native areas is in the configuration of the family and household. The former is relevant to the state of family life mainly because it is one of the ways in which children can obtain money independently.
