ABSTRACT
As soon as a child displays understanding, it is treated by kinsmen and neighbours in a manner which does not differentiate between children of three, seven, or even more years of age. At an early stage children begin to imitate the life of adults, and the Sukuma word for this game is mambulia. If a wife has conceived a child during the absence of her husband, the latter can, after his return, either acknowledge the child as his own or refuse to do so, in which case the child is considered illegitimate and belongs to the wife's family. Misango is payable for each illegitimate child, even if a woman has several illegitimate children by the same man. The legal consequences of an illegitimate pregnancy are misango and njigu. These institutions do not exist in the chiefdoms of the Mweli Federation except in KM.
