Travellers and missionaries, seeing things merely from the standpoint of European civilisation, have for a long time attributed to primitive people conceptions of sexual behaviour like our own. But the real truth could not be hidden for long. It is now firmly established that the moral ideas of primitive people differ as widely from ours as does their sense of modesty. They do not consider sexual intercourse per se as immoral, and generally allow unmarried people full liberty. It is only where a more advanced civilisation leads to material considerations in the matter of sex relationship that, as a rule, this liberty is restricted or entirely in abeyance. Should any consequences ensue from the practice of free love, the lover is generally in duty bound to marry the girl. Among some tribes, however, no such obligation exists; the lover may break off his connection with the pregnant girl. Frequently in cases of pre-marital pregnancy abortion is resorted to, which is very prevalent among primitive races. Among some people, on the contrary, a girl who has had a child gets married the more easily, for she has given proof of her fertility. Besides, the child will be an additional worker in the house.

Most peoples demand conjugal fidelity from their married women, though we shall hear of some exceptions. It is certainly not correct, as Buschan (1912, p. 237) says, that the rules concerning sexual intercourse are stringent throughout for women, and that only in a childless marriage may a woman take up with another man.

Among many peoples, living so far apart as Asia, Australia, Oceania and Africa, we find that married men and women are in certain cases allowed intercourse with other persons. The full meaning of this arrangement is as yet unknown.

The idea of sexual purity is not innate nor unchangeable. Ethnographical research has fully proved that purity in our sense of the term is unknown even to-day among many peoples, and that there exist no restrictions upon sexual intercourse except for the prevention of cohabitation among blood relations. A greater or less degree of sexual liberty before marriage prevails among most of those peoples in Asia that are not under the influence of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Indeed, it even exists among some uncivilised Hindu tribes, as, e.g., among the lower Hindu castes of Kashmir and of the Punjab mountains, the various lower castes of Agra-Oudh, in the Central Provinces and Berar, and in Southern India; but they restrict pre-marital relationship to persons of their own community. Most Dravidian races, however, forbid intercourse between members of the same exogamic group, though it takes place at times in spite of this. The Mongolian races generally show indifference in this respect. Thus T. C. Hudson (p. 78) says of the Nagas in Manipur that they are conspicuous for their exceptionally loose pre-marital relationship, although they demand strict fidelity in marriage. Pre-marital intercourse between persons to whom marriage is forbidden is not considered improper, which may be due to the fact that the Nagas, like the Australian tribes, are ignorant of the process of generation.

Among many native Indian tribes the grown-up children do not sleep in their parents' huts, but in houses of their own, in which they commonly visit each other by night. Should a girl become pregnant, the probable father is expected to marry her. If he refuses, he has to pay damages, and the girl is at liberty to marry some one else, which she can do without any difficulty. Sometimes abortion is resorted to, especially when both persons belong to the same exogamic group, the members of which are not allowed to intermarry. The tribes of Baroda, the Maduvars of Madras, and the Ghasyas of the United Provinces, permit a probationary period of cohabitation. It is considered no disgrace for a girl if the trial marriage does not result in a permanent marriage. Among the Garos it is an unwritten law that after certain great festivals young men and women may sleep together. Otherwise these Garos, like the tribes and castes previously referred to, are strictly monogamous. Sexual promiscuity often occurs after feasts, and it is not restricted to the unmarried (Playfair, p. 68).

It is only seldom that unfaithfulness on the part of married women is tolerated. But there are exceptions. Gait states that in the Djamna mountains the women of the Thakkar, Megh, and other low castes lead just as unrestrained a life after marriage as before. The Djats of Baluchistan are in ill repute because they incite their married women to unfaithfulness, if any advantage can be obtained thereby for the men. Certain nomadic castes, such as the Mirasis, prostitute their women, and the love affairs of married women of the servant class meet with no opposition whatever. In the eastern region of Djamba, in the Punjab, the husband is expected to allow a guest free entrance to the women's chambers. In the western part of this province the Djats and Pathans will often take back married women who have eloped, and not rarely a husband will recognise as his own a son who may have been born while the woman was away.

In Southern India married women enjoy a great deal of sexual freedom, especially in those communities where the descent is reckoned in the female line. Where marriage between cousins is customary, grown-up girls are often married to quite young boys. During the immaturity of the husband the wife is allowed to have sexual relations with the father of her child husband or another near relation, sometimes even with any one member of the caste chosen by her. This custom also exists in Kashmir, not only among the Ladakhis, but also among other low Hindu castes, and is also to be found in other parts of the world. Many South Indian castes allow their married women much freedom with the relatives of their husbands. The Tootiyans go so far as to forbid a husband to enter his house if he finds the door locked and a relation's shoe before it. The Maloyali, a mountain tribe, accept unfaithfulness on the part of their wives quite lightly, unless the partner belongs to another caste; if a woman lives for a time with a lover and has children during this time, the husband will on her return recognise the children as his own. The state of affairs is similar among the Kudans and Parivarams. Many low Hindu castes in North Kanara allow their women extra-marital intercourse with men of their own or of a higher caste. Among some castes, such as the Irulas and Kurumbas, formal marriage is completely unknown, an almost unbridled sexual promiscuity taking its place. A Korawa of Madras who has debts to pay either pawns or simply sells his wife. The Todas and other polyandrous communities of South India do not know jealousy (Rivers, 1906, p. 592; Iyer, I., p. 136). An exception to the rule that faithfulness in marriage is more strictly enforced than purity before marriage is to be found among the Pongalakapus of Madras, who allow extra-marital intercourse of married women, but punish that of unmarried girls and widows (Gait).

The Veddahs of Ceylon, who, according to Paul and Fritz Sarasin, are physically and intellectually of the lowest human type, practise monogamy, which lasts until the death of one of the partners. Marital unfaithfulness is rare, and leads to heavy punishment of the offending rival, who, as a rule, is assassinated. Only where foreign influence has become apparent is there a tendency to dissolve marriage before death (Paul and Fritz Sarasin).

Hose and MacDougall mention that among the nomadic hunting tribes of Inner Borneo "the women are chaster after marriage than before." Apparently neither sex practises much restraint. A girl's pregnancy generally results in her marriage with the father of the expected child. Amongst the settled tribes of Borneo a young man seeks a love affair as soon as he is attracted to the other sex; he may have relations with several girls one after another, but generally marries early. The marriage age of the men is about twenty, of the girls still earlier. There is no information about their marital fidelity.

The Dutchmen Hinlopen and Severijn state that in 1852 they found on the Poggi Islands, on the west coast of Sumatra, a state of complete promiscuity. Some of the men are said to get married, but only very late, between the ages of forty and fifty, when their detailed tattooing is completed; it is only seldom that a young man takes a separate wife. G. A. Wilken enumerates the following East Indian communities as living in sexual promiscuity: the Lubus, the Orang-Sakai of Malacca, the Olo-Ot, and other Bornean tribes; the inhabitants of the island Peling. He adduces no evidence, however; and his statement is certainly incorrect as far as the Sakai of Malacca are concerned. Among the non-Christian tribes of the Philippine Islands considerable pre-marital liberty prevails. Among the Igorotes, e.g., the dormitory of the unmarried girls (the olag) serves also as the pairing place of the marriageable young people. In the villages young people, joking and laughing, can frequently be seen going about wrapped in one blanket and with their arms round each other. There is no secrecy about the wooing; it is carried on mainly in the olag. Marriage rarely takes place without previous intercourse, and seldom before the girl is pregnant. An exception to this rule only occurs when a rich man marries a girl against her will at the parents' wish. Not infrequently a young man has affairs with two or three girls at one and the same time. The girls quite openly and unmistakably invite the men to go with them into the olag. As soon as a girl becomes pregnant, she at once joyfully informs the father of the child, for these people are very fond of children. If the man refuses to marry the girl, there is likely to be tears, but no one is much concerned about the infidelity itself, because the girl can find a husband later on in spite of her having borne a child; indeed, the more so, as there can be no doubt of her fertility. It is not customary for married men to enter the olag. A young man, however, can go there if his former love has remained single and welcomes him, because she still has hopes of becoming his wife, for it is easy to get a separation, and if a man can afford it, he may have two or three wives, though polygamy is rare. A man whose wife is pregnant does not visit the olag, for it is feared that this may bring about a premature birth and cause the death of the child. Married women apparently remain always faithful (A. E. Jenks, p. 66). Ferdinand Blumentritt makes a statement, based on Spanish information, that the girls' houses of the Igorotes serve the purpose of ensuring pre-marital purity. This, however, is incorrect.

Very similar customs prevail among the Naga tribes of Assam (Peal, pp. 244 et seq.).

The pure Senoi and Semang tribes of the Malay Peninsula practise strict monogamy. Marriage takes place at an early age, sometimes between boys of fourteen and girls of thirteen. Even betrothals of children seem to occur. Marital unfaithfulness is punished with death (Martin, 1905, p. 864).

In many districts of Australia, indeed, among the majority of the natives of the Australian continent, there exist two forms of sexual union side by side. The one form consists in a girl's being given in marriage to one man without regard to the difference in ages, and also without any consideration for feelings of personal sympathy. Indeed, such is hardly possible, for the girls are given to the men at a very young age. The main cause of these unions is apparently economic. It ensures the man a housekeeper for himself who has to gather the largest share of provisions, for the result of the man's hunting yields only a very small part of the absolutely essential food. A man may have, according to his social position, one or more such housekeepers. In addition, each man and woman may form a union with one or more of the other sex merely for the purpose of sexual intercourse. Unlike the "marriages" previously mentioned, these unions do not take place without any formality—there is a special ceremony for the occasion. They do not last for life, at least among some of the tribes, but are regulated from time to time. This form of sexual union is generally called pirauru in ethnographical literature, after the designation in use among the tribes of the Dieri, where this kind of sex community was first observed. The men of a pirauru group are either consanguineous or collateral brothers, members of one and the same subdivision of the tribe; similarly, the women of a pirauru group are consanguineous or collateral sisters. Sexual intercourse with a pirauru wife is allowed during the absence of the husband who is her usual mate, and also at special festivals. When a man's housekeeper dies, her children are cared for by one of his pirauru wives until he gets another housekeeper. Without the institution of pirauru, the younger men would be barred from sexual intercourse. Many of them are without housekeepers, as most of the young women are in the possession of the older influential men. It has been said that the old men are often killed by the young men on this account (Spencer, p. 11). The majority of the tribes that have the institution of pirauru are ignorant of the connection between sexual intercourse and conception (see Chapter VI.). It is therefore not the production of progeny which seems to be the purpose of a common household between man and woman, nor of the pirauru unions.

Institutions similar to the Australian pirauru also exist outside Australia. Codrington (p. 22) has established the fact that in the Solomon Islands and in other parts of Melanesia a woman of an exogamic group who is not yet married to one particular man may legitimately have sexual intercourse with all men of another exogamic group who are her potential husbands. The exogamic groups play a far more important rÔle than individual marriage. In the Fijian Islands every man has the right to sexual intercourse with his wife's sisters. On special ceremonial occasions intercourse is permitted between those groups of men and women who stand in the relationship of possible conjugal partners (Thomson, p. 185).

Pre-marital sexual freedom of both sexes exists, or did exist, all over the South Sea islands before the advent of European influence. Thus, e.g., Robert W. Williamson (pp. 172-176) writes of the Mafulus, in the mountains of New Guinea, that unmarried youths and maidens are allowed to associate with each other without any precautions. There exists a good deal of "immorality." Even after marriage (which takes place with an elaborate pretence of bride capture) husband and wife are, as a rule, not faithful to each other, the marriage bond being very loose. But it is said that unfaithfulness on the part of the women (though not of the men) is considered a great offence. The injured husband used to have the right of killing the guilty man, which he did, as a rule, until the British authorities put an end to the practice. Nowadays the deceived husband is generally satisfied if he receives a pig or some other article of value from the guilty rival.

In Africa sexual community is allowed at certain periods among the Hereros (Brinker, p. 88). Among many other Bantu tribes sexual communism is customary, particularly at the initiation of the young people. The girls, too, are allowed to choose male partners for a time, and among many tribes of South Africa it was customary for the girls who refused to be given to men against their will. The Colonial Government has now put a stop to this (Theal).

The statements about the Hottentots of South Africa vary. But the custom of sore, which is found among them, seems to point to the existence of an institution similar to the Australian pirauru. Schultze (pp. 299, 319) thinks that illicit love was punished among the Hottentots before the extensive immigration of the white people into South Africa led to the overthrow of their old customs. Either the guilty couple were beaten, with the consent of the parents, or the lover received, in addition to his own, his sweetheart's share of punishment. But Schultze mentions also that the institution of sore, intended ostensibly for the exchange of love gifts, really means in many cases a secret agreement for intimate extra-marital relationship, though it is generally quite honourable. This institution is by no means an innovation.

The Hamitic tribes of East Africa, who belong to the most warlike races of mankind, permit pre-marital intercourse of both sexes. A. C. Hollis (1909, pp. 16, 77) says of the Nandi; "The unmarried warriors, as many as ten, sleep in the huts called sigiroinet, where the girls visit them and remain with them a few days, living with them in free love." Married women are not allowed to enter these huts. When the warriors go away for a time or go to war, their sweethearts keep the huts in order. Real "family life" is unknown, for the bigger boys and girls also live alone in special huts or together with the old women; the little boys who serve the warriors sleep in their houses. There is no publicly recognised punishment for adultery; but if a husband discovers another man not belonging to his mat (one of the subdivisions of each of the seven age classes) with his wife or one of his wives, he beats him severely. Adultery is also not considered wrong when it concerns a couple that have previously lived together in free love in the warriors' house, even when the woman does not belong to a mat comrade. When a Nandi travels and wishes to remain somewhere overnight, he must first of all apply to another member of his mat in the place. If there is one, and both men are married, the latter gives hospitality to the guest, commissions his wife to fulfil his wishes, and leaves the hut in order to sleep elsewhere. The wife pours water over the hands of the guest, brings him a stool and food, puts his weapons into a place of safety, and spends the night with him. Should there be no member of his mat in the place, the traveller betakes himself to a member of the nearest mat; and, after having explained the situation, he is treated exactly as if both men belonged to the same mat. Members of different age classes do not offer each other hospitality or expect it. If the traveller is unmarried, he spends the night in the warriors' hut. Children born before marriage are killed by the Nandis, only one group making an exception to this rule.

The Masai have when travelling the same customs as the Nandis. Sexual intercourse with a girl or woman of the same age class is not considered wrong. A warrior marries the girl he makes pregnant. Children born before marriage are considered a disgrace. A person who has relations with a woman belonging to the paternal age class must beg pardon of the older men and give as reparation two oxen or a commensurate quantity of honey wine. An old man who has sexual intercourse with his daughter or with another girl of her age is severely punished, if the affair comes to light: he is beaten, his kraal is pulled down, and his cattle are killed ad libitum (Hollis, 1905, pp. 287, 312, 313).

Of the conditions existing among the Baganda in East Africa the missionary John Roscoe (p. 10) gives us the following picture: "Neither the men nor the women controlled their sexual cravings unless insurmountable obstacles came in the way. Women, however, could only attain their aims by stratagem. If an unmarried girl became pregnant, the guilty man had to pay a fine, and he was induced to marry the girl. If a husband discovered his wife with another man, he had the right to kill them both. Nevertheless the married women kept in strict seclusion used to receive lovers, which even the most dreadful punishments for adultery could not prevent." It has to be noticed that the social formation of classes was already greatly developed among the Baganda at the time described by Roscoe. The wealthy men were in a position to have as many wives as they could support, so that there was a scarcity of women for the remaining men. It is not remarkable, therefore, that these tried to meet this fact by force and cunning. Although married women were secluded, single girls had a fair amount of liberty.

Among the Bushmen of South Africa, now nearly extinct, husband and wife remained faithful to each other for life. But if they became tired of each other, no hindrance was put in the way of separation and remarriage. A second husband, however, or a second wife was most probably never accepted into the family; their passionate temperament was against it (Theal).

About the Indians of North-west Brazil Koch-GrÜnberg relates: "Whilst young girls enjoy the greatest liberty, their purity not being necessarily above suspicion, marriage itself is generally on a higher plane; a married couple are rarely unfaithful to each other." Koch-GrÜnberg has never noticed even the semblance of indecent behaviour between married people, nor under normal circumstances any serious quarrels or ugly scenes. The same or similar conditions prevail nearly all over South America where European influence is not yet predominant. Karl von den Steinen (p. 501) mentions one exception to this rule. The Bororos, who live on the St. Lourenco river, and who were visited by him, have greatly degenerated, thanks to the civilising arts of the Brazilians. A marriage is concluded without any formality and without the consent of the parents. The young wife remains with her children in her parents' house. The young husband only spends the night there; during the day he lives in the men's house when he is not hunting. The young couple have a hearth for themselves, the grandmother with the grandchildren sitting somewhat apart. Thus it remains up to the death of the grandparents. The grandmother suckles the child when the young wife accompanies her husband on the hunt or fetches palm nuts from the woods; she still has milk when her children marry. Young unmarried men live together in special men's houses. They look out betimes for wives. There are two customs which deserve our interest. A girl's ear-lobes are bored by her future husband. If he himself does not marry her, his son does so. Furthermore, the man who puts the penis cuff on a boy becomes related to him and marries his sister or his aunt. Girls were taken to the men's house quite openly by day, or were caught at night. These girls were not married to one man; any children born were fathered on those men with whom the girl had had relations. This state of affairs is the result of the overweening power wielded by the older men. The women are their possession, and a regular income of arrows and trinkets is earned by hiring out the girls to the men's house. Unnatural intercourse is not unknown in the men's house, but it occurs only when there is an exceptionally great scarcity of girls. According to a statement of a native, the same conditions prevail in the remote villages, where some only of the members of a tribe have permanent possession of the women. But such information given by the natives must be accepted with great caution. No similar customs have become known anywhere else in South America.

In North America the young people also had great liberty, but the married women dared not break their faith. Among many tribes, especially the nomadic hunting tribes, there existed patriarchal conditions, with complete subordination of the women. Intercourse with any one but their rightful husbands was taken in bad part. Nowadays the Indians of North America, with the exception of a small remnant living in the Canadian Tundra, have come under the influence of Christianity. The probable existence of an earlier sex communism among the North American Indians has been described in full by L. H. Morgan.

F. Nansen reports that among the Christian Eskimos of the west coast of Greenland the girls do not consider pre-marital motherhood as a disgrace. The green hair-band which the unmarried mothers have to wear is put on by them long before it is necessary. The young Greenland girls do not deem any concealment of their love affairs necessary. In East Greenland, which has not yet been reached by Christianity, it is customary for a man who wants a wife simply to abduct the girl from her house or tent. The abduction is often only a pretence, for the couple have settled it all between themselves. Formerly this form of marriage was in vogue all over Greenland. The relations look on quietly, for it is all a private affair of those immediately concerned. Should the girl really not wish to have the suitor, she will defend herself until she quietens down or the wooer renounces her. Divorce also takes place without any difficulties; but generally the marriage is continued if there is a child, particularly if it should be a boy. If a man covets the wife of another, he will take her without any hesitation, if he is the stronger. Among the non-Christian Eskimos most of the skilful hunters have two wives, but never more. The first wife is generally looked upon as the superior. Temporary exchange of wives occurs up to the present time even among the Christians on the west coast, especially when the people have to spend the summer hunting the reindeer in the interior of the country. As a rule, married people live on exceptionally good terms with each other.

Among the Netchili Eskimos near the Magnetic North Pole, however, conjugal harmony is, according to Roald Amundsen, not of the best. As a rule, the wife only escapes being beaten when she is stronger than the man. Exchange of women is quite common. Most of the girls are destined from birth for certain men, though sometimes things do not turn out as the parents wish it. When the girl is fourteen years old she seeks out her bridegroom, or he comes to her. There is no wedding. Amundsen doubts whether the couple have, as a rule, any tender feelings towards each other. The girl is just given to the man by the parents, the man marrying her in order to have one more domestic drudge, for in reality the wife is nothing more nor less than a domestic animal. Most Eskimos offer their wives to any one.

Among the Kamchadales, Chukchee, Jukagiers and Tunguses of North Asia the girls have pre-marital liberty, and there exists no marital fidelity. W. Bogoras (p. 602) describes "group marriage" among the Chukchee, which seems to be an institution similar to the Australian pirauru. There are groups, consisting of up to ten men or women, that have the right to sexual intercourse with each other; "but this right is comparatively rarely taken advantage of, only when a man has for some reason to visit the camp of one of his group companions. The host then gives up to him his place in the sleeping room, and if possible leaves the house for the night, going, for instance, to his flock. Afterwards the host generally seeks an opportunity of returning the visit, so as to exercise his rights in turn." The sex communities are generally composed of neighbours and friends. The offspring of brothers and sisters in the second and third generations are, as a rule, united in the same sex community, but not brothers. Bogoras thinks that the communities were originally limited to members of a group who were related, and were only later extended to other people; the ceremonies at the formation of a group seem to imply this. The persons concerned bring sacrifices and anoint themselves with blood, first in the one and then in the other camp. The admission into a group of persons who greatly diverge from each other in age is not welcomed, and single men are also not willingly admitted. The inhabitants of one and the same camp are seldom willing to form a sex community, for reciprocal relationship is intended as an exception rather than the rule, though there are deviations from this rule. Every individual family of the Chukchee belongs in practice to some sex community. Should a family keep to themselves, it would indicate that they had no friends and no protectors in time of need. The children of members of a sex community are reckoned as near blood relations, and may not marry one another.

It is quite different among the Koryaks, the neighbours of the Chukchee. They demand abstinence from the girls before marriage, and there is rarely any transgression against this law. Pregnancy before marriage is a disgrace, and unmarried mothers are forced to give birth in the wilderness. Children born before marriage are killed. After the advent of puberty the girls sleep in their "combinations," which are fashioned in such a way as to exclude undesirable intercourse. Intercourse between engaged couples is also looked upon as sinful. Sometimes the girl lives with relatives in another place for a time, or is kept hidden until the bridegroom works off at her parents' home the service which he owes to them. Incest is strictly avoided, for it is feared that the evil-doers must die in consequence of it. The various prohibitions existing at the present day with regard to the marriage of certain consanguineous or adopted relations are only of recent date; they were unknown formerly (Jochelson, p. 733). Perhaps the other existing sexual customs are also the result of missionary activities.

The above examples, chosen at random, plainly show that the conceptions of sexual morality generally held by primitive people are different from those prevalent under European civilisation. Very often these primitive customs have been greatly influenced or altogether exterminated by the example or the power of the European colonists. Whether this was of benefit to the races cannot be discussed here.

After all, European morality is not so very superior to that of the "savages." As Georg Friederici (p. 85) pertinently says: "Almost everywhere in our society we shut our eyes to the fact that our young men do what is forbidden to them, but is permitted to the Melanesian and Polynesian girls. We admit the State regulation of prostitution or, to avoid greater scandal, even street prostitution; yet we set out in moral indignation to reform the customs of primitive peoples which have proved their value and are consistent with their moral laws. Having nothing better to put in their place, we merely introduce among them what happens to be our own canker."

Everywhere the fight against the traditional moral ideals has resulted merely in the introduction of prostitution, with all its corruption. We should therefore refrain from reforms that are misplaced, and should not attack customs that cannot be replaced by better ones, and that do not stand in the way of colonisation.