ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the populations of the British and French West African colonies, who total rather over 45 millions, and are therefore much more numerous than the inhabitants of any of the other regions so far described. Most of the peoples of the region perform puberty rites which are regarded as an essential preliminary to marriage, and which involve circumcision for boys. The institution locally known by the Hausa term zaga, which Meek has called ‘secondary marriage’ or ‘sub-marriage’, deserves mention here because it involves special rules and procedures for a woman’s second marriage far more elaborate than anything generally associated with divorce and remarriage. The Bamenda tribes make marriage payments in various articles. As elsewhere, there is a main payment returnable at divorce, and various subsidiary gifts. The Bamenda tribes make marriage payments in various articles.
