Note 244-8 — Chapter II
John J. (John Joseph) Lalor translation
On the gold coast, people become fathers in their 12th year even, and mothers at 10. (Ritter, Erdkunde, I, 313.) In the whole of the Soudan the climate is so exciting that the intercourse of the sexes is said to be a "physical necessity," and an unmarried man of eighteen is universally despised. But, indeed, the individual is little valued in Africa, on account of the great prolificacy of the African race. (Ritter, I, 385.)