2 huts, particularly boys." 1 Several writers assert the same as regards the Australians. Thus, according to Sir George Grey, "a stern and vigilant jealousy is commonly felt by every married man ;"3 and Mr. Curr states that, in most tribes, a woman is not allowed to converse or have any relations whatever with any adult male, save her husband. Even with a grown-up brother she is almost forbidden to exchange a word." With reference to the Veddahs of Ceylon, Mr. Bailey says that, with the very smallest cause, the men are exceedingly jealous of their most unattractive wives, and are very careful to keep them apart from their companions.5 According to a Thlinket myth, the jealousy of man is older than the world itself. There was an age, it is supposed, when men groped in the dark in search of the world. At that time a Thlinket lived who had a wife and sister; and he was so jealous of his wife, that he killed all his sister's children because they looked at her. “ Great jealousy is met with among the Atkha Aleuts, according to Father Yakof; among the Kutchin Indians, according to Richardson and Hardisty; among the Haidahs, according to Dixon; among the Tacullies, according to Harmon; among the Crees, according to Richardson.7 The Indians on the Eastern side of the Rocky Mountains visited by Harmon, in their fits of jealousy, "often cut off all the hair from the heads of their wives, and, not unfrequently, cut off their noses also; and should they not in the moment of 1 Wilkes, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 125. 2 Breton, Excursions in New South Wales,' &c., p. 231. Wilkes, vol. ii. p. 195. Waitz-Gerland, loc. cit. vol. vi. p. 774. Schürmann, loc. cit. p. 223. Salvado, ' Mémoires,' p. 280. 3 Grey, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 252. 4 Curr, loc. cit. vol. i. pp. 109, 100. 5 Bailey, in 'Trans. Ethn. Soc.,' N. S. vol. ii. p. 292. 6 Holmberg, Ethnographische Skizzen über die Völker des russischen Amerika,' in 'Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicæ,' vol. iv. pp. 332, et seq. Dall, loc. cit. p. 421. 7 Petroff, loc. cit. p. 158. Richardson, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 383. Hardisty, 'The Loucheux Indians,' in 'Smithsonian Report,' 1866, p. 312. Dixon, 'Voyage round the World,' pp. 225, et seq. Harmon, 'Journal of Voyages and Travels,' p. 293. Franklin, Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea,' p. 67. Cf. Waitz, vol. iii. p. 328; Hearne, loc. cit. p. 310; Mackenzie, loc. cit. p. 147; Hooper, loc. cit. p. 390. passion have a knife at hand, they will snap it off at one bite, with their teeth. . . . The man is satisfied in thus revenging a supposed injury; and having destroyed the beauty of his wife, he concludes that he has secured her against all future solicitations to offend." In California, if a married native woman is seen even walking in the forest with another man than her husband, she is chastised by him, whilst a repetition of the offence is generally punished with speedy death.2 Among the Creeks, "it was formerly reckoned adultery, if a man took a pitcher of water off a married woman's head, and drank of it." The Moquis allow their wives to work only indoors, afraid of having rivals. The Arawaks, as also the Indians of Peru, are stated to commit horrible crimes of jealousy. The Botocudos, who are known to change wives very frequently, are, nevertheless, much addicted to that passion. And, regarding the Coroados of Brazil, v. Spix and v. Martius say that revenge and jealousy are the only passions that can rouse their stunted soul from its moody indifference.s 5 In the Sandwich Islands, according to Lisiansky, jealousy was extremely prevalent; and, in Nukahiva, the men punish their wives with severity upon the least suspicion of infidelity.10 The Areois of Tahiti, too, although given to every kind of licentiousness, are described by Ellis as utterly jealous. The same is said of the New Caledonians and New Zealanders; 12 whilst, in the Pelew Islands, it is forbidden even to speak about another man's wife or mention her name.13 In short, the South Sea Islanders are, as Mr. Macdonald remarks, generally jealous of the chastity of their wives.14 1 Harmon, loc. cit. p. 343. 3 Adair, loc. cit. p. 143. 5 v. Martius, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 693. 2 Powers, loc. cit. p. 412. 4 Waitz, loc. cit. vol. iv. p. 209. 6 v. Schütz-Holzhausen, ' Der Amazonas,' p. 70. 7 v. Martius, vol. i. p. 322. Keane, On the Botocudos,' in 'Jour. Anthr. Inst.,' vol. xiii. p. 206. 8 v. Spix and v. Martius, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 241. 9 Lisiansky, loc. cit. p. 128. 6 10 Ibid, i. p. 82. 11 Ellis, Polynesian Researches,' vol. i. p. 239. 12 Moncelon, in 'Bull. Soc. d'Anthr.,' ser. iii. vol. ix. p. 368. Waitz 6 Among the Malays of Sumatra, the husband jealously guards his wife as long as his affection lasts;1 and, concerning several other tribes of the Indian Archipelago, Riedel says that the men are very much addicted to the same passion.2 Captain Arnesen observed the great jealousy of the Samoyedes. Dr. A. O. Heikel informs me that a Tartar may repudiate his wife if he sees her shaking hands with a man. Among the nomadic Koriaks, many wives are killed by passionate husbands. Hence their women endeavour to be very ugly they refrain from dressing their hair or washing, and walk about ragged, as the husbands take for granted that, if they dress themselves, they do so in order to attract admirers.1 Among the Beni-Mzab, a man who speaks in the street to a married woman of quality is punished with a fine of two hundred francs and banishment for four years. In the Nile countries and many other parts of Africa, it is customary for the men to preserve the fidelity of their wives in a way not unlike a method used in the age of the Crusades. With reference to the inhabitants of Fida, Bosman tells us that a rich negro will not suffer any man to enter the houses where his wives reside, and on the least suspicion will sell them to the Europeans; whilst in Dahomey, if a wayfarer meets any 7 of the royal wives on the road, a bell warns him "to turn off, or stand against a wall while they pass."8 That jealousy is a powerful agent in the social life of civilized nations, is a fact which it is unnecessary to dwell upon. In Mohammedan countries, a woman is not allowed to receive male visitors, or to go out unveiled, it being un1 Bock, 'The Head-Hunters of Borneo,' p. 315. 2 Riedel, loc. cit. pp. 5, 335, 448. Cf. Modigliani, 'Un viaggio a Nías,' p. 471 (Nias). 3 Ymer,' vol. iii. p. 144. 6 4 Georgi, loc. cit. pp. 348, et seq. 6 Bastian, 'Rechtsverhältnisse,' p. xx. 7 Bosman, loc. cit. p. 479. 5 Chavanne, loc. cit. p. 315. Waitz, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 516. 8 Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans,' vol. i. p. 25. Cf. Barth, Reisen,' vol. iv. p. 498; 'Globus,' vol. xli. p. 237; Bosman, p. 480. 9 Le Bon, 'La civilisation des Arabes,' p. 434. This rule is not, however, strictly observed among the lower classes in Arabia (Palgrave, "Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia,' vol. i. pp. 271, et seq.), nor by the Mohammedans of Africa (d'Escayrac de Lauture, loc. cit. p. 63. Munzinger, loc. cit. p. 511. Chavanne, p. 349). lawful for the Moslem to see the faces of any other women than those whom he is forbidden to marry and his own wives and female slaves.1 A man who penetrates into the harem of another man may easily lose his life; and Dr. Polak states that, in Persia, a European physician cannot, without being considered indecent, even ask about the health of a Mohammedan's wife and daughter, though they are ill.2 Again, in Japan, as I am told by a native of the country, it was customary for women, when getting married, to have their eyebrows shaved off, because thick and beautiful eyebrows are considered one of a woman's greatest ornaments. At the same time, according to Mr. Balfour, their teeth are stained black, which can only have the effect of making the wife less attractive to the husband, as well as to other men. This reminds us of the wide-spread practice of depriving a woman of her ornaments as soon as she is married. The prevalence of jealousy in the human race is best shown by the punishments inflicted for adultery; although it may be that the proprietary feeling here plays an important part. In a savage country a seducer may be thankful if he escapes by paying to the injured husband the value of the bride or some other fine, or if the penalty is reduced to a flogging, to his head being shaved, his ears cut off, one of his eyes destroyed, his legs speared, &c., &c. He must consider himself very lucky if he is merely paid in his own coin, or if the punishment falls on his wife, who, in that case, seems to be looked upon as the real cause of her husband's unfaithfulness. Most commonly, among uncivilized nations, the seducer is killed, adultery on the woman's side being considered a heinous crime, for which nothing but the death of the offender can atone. Among the Waganda, it is, as a rule, punished even more severely than murder; and, in parts of 5 1 Lane, The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians,' vol. i. p. 138. 2 Polak, 'Persien,' vol. i. p. 224. 3 Balfour, 'The Cyclopaedia of India,' vol. iii. p. 252. * Moncelon, in 'Bull. Soc. d'Anthr.,' ser. iii. vol. viii. p. 361 (New Caledonians). 5 Wilson and Felkin, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 201. New Guinea, capital punishment is said to be almost unknown except for adultery.1 Mr. Reade remarks that, among savages generally, it is the seducer who suffers, not the victim. Yet this holds good for certain peoples only,3 the faithless wife being generally discarded, beaten, or ill-treated in some other way, and very frequently killed. Often, too, she is disfigured by her jealous husband, so that no man may fall in love with her in future. Thus, among several peoples of North America, India, and elsewhere, her nose is cut or bitten off,—a practice which also prevailed in ancient Egypt. As late as the year 1120 the Council of Neapolis in Palestine decreed that an adulterer should be castrated, and the nose of an unfaithful wife cut off; whilst, in the “Uplands-lag," an old Swedish provincial law, it is prescribed that an adulteress who cannot pay the fine of forty marks, shall lose her hair, ears, and nose. The Creeks and some Chittagong Hill tribes likewise cut off the ears of a woman who has been guilty of infidelity; and many other peoples are in the habit of shaving her head.s 1 Waitz-Gerland, loc. cit. vol. vi. p. 661. 2 Reade, loc. cit. p. 61. 3 Some Californian tribes (Powers, loc. cit. pp. 75, 246, 270), the Comanches (Schoolcraft, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 132), Guanas (Azara, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 95), Patagonians (Falkner, Description of Patagonia,' p. 126), Kaupuis in Manipur (Watt, in 'Jour. Anthr. Inst., vol. xvi. p. 355), Ladrone Islanders (Moore, loc. cit. p. 187), the ancient people of Honduras (de Herrera, 'The General History of the West Indies,' vol. iv. p. 140). 4 North American Indians (Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 236; vol. ii. p. 132; vol. v. pp. 683, 684, 686. Carver, loc. cit. p. 375. Adair, loc. cit. p. 145. Bancroft, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 514), Africans (Wake, 'The Evolution of Morality,' vol. ii. p. 128, note 2. Waitz, vol. ii. p. 115), Gonds and Korkús (Forsyth, loc. cit. p. 149), Kolyas (Watt, in 'Jour. Anthr. Inst.,' vol. xvi. p. 358), inhabitants of Nepaul (Smith, 'Five Years' Residence at Nepaul,' vol. i. p. 153), South Slavonians (Krauss, loc. cit. pp. 569, et seq.), Egyptians (Wilkinson, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 304). 6 Liebich, loc. cit. p. 50, note 3. Uplands-Lagen,' Aerfdæ Balkær, ch. vi. 7 Adair, pp. 144, et seq. Lewin, loc. cit. p. 245. 8 Crees (Schoolcraft, vol. v. p. 167), Chibchas (Waitz, vol. iv. p. 367), Abyssinians (Lobo, 'Voyage to Abyssinia,' in Pinkerton, 'Collection of Voyages,' vol. xv. pp. 25, et seq.), Kolyas (Watt, in 'Jour. Anthr. Inst., vol. xvi. p. 358), &c. |