In some parts of West Africa, a girl, particularly of high birth, if found guilty of unchasf ity, is punished by dusting red pepper into her privates ;B and among the Ba Wenda, of North Transvaal, although the young men are allowed to "play" with the girls before marriage, no sexual intercourse is permitted; and if a young girl, when she seats herself upon a stone, showa the lips of her vulva suspiciously open, she is accused of having had illicit intercourse, and subjected at once to the "pepper-cure;" a form of punishment, by the way, which might take its place, not unworthily, with the much exploited " water-cure," as practised by our officers in the Philippines. Were it employed generally in thiB country I am convinced there would be an immediate and sharp advance in the price of capsicum.