For some time I have been trying to study the origins of the customary practice of dowry in East Africa. There are, as one can imagine, tremendous variations in the details of traditional procedures from one tribe to another. But in spite of these variants there is one common characteristic: the fact that money, goods, manual labour, or symbolic articles are provided by the bridegroom (or his family) and pass into the hands of the father of the bride. The purpose of my research has been to discover the factors which have motivated the transaction to take place in this particular way.