ABSTRACT
Our growing native has now reached puberty, an event that takes place later than among ourselves, about fourteen or fifteen in the case of girls and a year or two after for boys. The villagers have always condemned sexual relations outside marriage. When discussing the matter in the abstract, without reference to particular individuals, they lay as much blame on the boy as on the girl and insist that scandal impairs the future marriage chances of both. The teachings of the missionaries reinforced the traditional code, and today the native pastors and other Church leaders denounce the sin of pre-marital intercourse on every possible occasion. The homosexual activities of the labour compound give rise to greater anxiety. Living conditions make these inevitable. The workers are all young, have practically no female society, and sleep in such cramped quarters that their bodies almost touch.
