SEMI-CIVILIZED NATIONS.

PERSIA.

Women occupy an inferior position in Persia, where they are literally the property of men. The lower classes consider them valuable for their labor, the rich regard them as instruments of pleasure. While Persian poetry and romance are devoted to the praise of female charms, the realities of every-day life prove that the sex is held in slight esteem. The wives of the Shah vegetate within the walls of a luxurious prison; and if one is ever permitted to breathe the air outside, she is paraded in solemn procession, guarded by a troup of eunuchs armed with loaded muskets, in order to drive off any curious wayfarer who might be tempted to gaze on the charms of a royal mistress. Nor is this isolation peculiar to them; it pervades all the upper classes, and brothers are not allowed to see their sisters after a certain age.

This jealousy is not decreased by the polygamy which is common in the country. The religious laws limit a Persian to four wives, but allow him to keep as many concubines as he can afford; and, in pursuance of this privilege, the harem of the palace is said to contain at times more than a thousand women, who need a stringent discipline to keep them in order. They are arranged with a strict regard to precedence. The chief favorite lives in splendor, her attire is covered with costly jewels, and she has the privilege of sitting in the royal presence. Her inferiors are subject to much rigor, and the eunuchs preserve decorum by administering personal chastisement with the heel of a slipper on the face of a refractory woman. They seem insensible to any degradation. Many of them lead a pleasant, idle life, lounging for hours in the warm bath, and emerging with enervated frames to deck their pretty persons in order to render themselves attractive to the Shah. They court his favor as much as they fear his frown, and with good reason. The former can raise them to the summit of their ambition; the latter can condemn them to be fastened in a sack and thrown from a lofty tower.

Common usage permits a Persian to take a woman in three different ways: he may marry, purchase, or hire her. In the first case, betrothal sometimes takes place in infancy, but it must be subsequently confirmed by the parties. In this they seldom fail; for if a girl shows any repugnance to ratify her father’s contract, he whips her until she consents, and she requires little of this kind of argument to induce compliance. The nuptial ceremony must be witnessed by two persons, one of whom is a legal officer to attest the contract. This is delivered to the bride, and by her carefully preserved, as it proves her title to provision in the event of widowhood or divorce. Though a man has the right to put away his wife when he pleases, the attendant expense and scandal render it a rare proceeding. Mohammedan jealousy farther protects the woman, as no one will willingly allow a female with whom he has lived to fall into the hands of another. In addition to this, interest restrains a husband from using his privileges in a direct manner, as when he takes the initiative he must pay back the dowry he received with his wife. If she applies for divorce, he is free from this obligation. The advantage being thus on the man’s side, a species of tyranny is frequently practiced until the woman is forced to open the suit, when he gets rid of her, but retains her property.

A Persian may purchase as many female slaves as he desires. These acquire no advantage of position by being his concubines; he may sell or otherwise dispose of them at any moment he thinks proper.

The custom of hiring wives still prevails in Persia, though strict Mohammedans abhor and condemn the practice, which was prohibited by Omar, the successor of Mohammed. In operation, it is an agreement made by a man and woman to cohabit a specified time for an agreed sum of money. The children springing from this union must be supported by the father. If the man terminate the connection prematurely, he must still pay the whole stipulated amount, and the woman is restrained from accepting any other protector until a sufficient time has elapsed to prove whether she is pregnant by the former. Although these contracts are ranked as marriages, few readers will be inclined to think them any thing but systematic prostitution.

Formerly there were numerous open and avowed prostitutes in Persia, among whom the dancing girls were conspicuous for the beauty of their persons and the melody of their voices. They had considerable sway until the time of Futteh Ali Khan, who crowded his palace with concubines, and from among them issued edicts to suppress immorality, prohibiting the dancing girls from approaching the court, and exiling them to the distant provinces. Social life was most depraved under the Sefi dynasty. Public brothels were very numerous, and largely contributed to the national revenue, no less than thirty thousand prostitutes paying an annual tax in Ispahan alone. The governors of provinces allowed similar privileges for money, and there was scarcely a town which had not one licensed brothel at least, whose inmates (also licensed and taxed) were known as Cahbeha, or the worthless. As soon as the shops were closed these houses were opened, and the women repaired to particular localities, where they sat in rows, closely veiled. With each company was an old harridan, whose business was to show the faces of her troop to any man desiring a companion, and to receive his payment when the selection was made. Under the reigning family this system has been checked; no licenses are now given, and prostitution has retired to secrecy. But the vice has in no way decreased, and public brothels abound in all the cities of Persia.

AFGHANISTAN.

Marriage in Afghanistan is a commercial transaction, the women being sold for prices varying according to circumstances. This system is carried to such an extent that if a widow marries, the friends of her first husband can recover from his successor the amount originally paid for her. The necessity of purchasing a wife renders many of the poorer classes unable to marry until well advanced in years, in opposition to the custom of their wealthy neighbors, among whom bridegrooms of fifteen and brides of twelve years old are common.

The prior intercourse of the sexes is regulated by various circumstances. In crowded towns men have little opportunity of associating with women, and there professional match-makers exist. Their functions are, in the first place, to see and report upon any girl whom a man may wish to marry; then to ascertain if her family would agree to the match, and, finally, to make arrangements for a public proposal. This is made by the suitor’s father, in company with a number of male friends, to the father of the girl, while a similar deputation of females waits upon the mother. Presents are made, the selling price determined, and the couple are betrothed. Soon after, the parties sign a mutual contract; stipulation is made for provision for the woman if divorced; a festival is given; the bridegroom pays for his wife, and she is delivered at the dwelling of her future master. Similar formalities take place in the country, but, as the social intercourse is less restricted there, marriages frequently spring from attachment, and the negotiations are mere matters of etiquette.

A romantic lover may obtain his mistress without the consent of her parents by tearing away her veil, cutting off a lock of her hair, or throwing a large white cloth over her, and declaring her his affianced bride. These proceedings do not release him from the obligation to pay for her, which is only evaded by an elopement, a serious step, considered by the girl’s family as equivalent to murder, and revenged accordingly, unless the couple secure shelter and protection from some neighboring tribe. Sometimes a man never sees his bride until the marriage is completed. In certain districts where this rule nominally exists it is practically violated, secret interviews between the bride and bridegroom being tolerated, and called “the sport of the betrothed.” The young man steals after dark to the house of his charmer, affecting to conceal his presence from the men, and is introduced by the mother to her daughter’s room, where the couple are left till the morning undisturbed. The ordinary result of this is the anticipation of nuptial privileges, and cases have been known where the bride has borne several children before she has been formally delivered to her husband.

Polygamy is allowed, but is too expensive to be practiced by the majority of the people, although some rich men maintain a large number of concubines in addition to the four legal wives.

The social condition of females is low in Afghanistan. Among the more barbarous tribes they labor in the fields. With the poor all the drudgery of the house falls upon them, while the rich keep them secluded in the harems. The law allows a man the privilege of beating his wife, but custom is more chivalrous than the code, and considers such an act disgraceful.

Of avowed prostitutes in this region we know but little beyond the bare fact that such a class exists, and that their profligacy is materially aided by the ignorance and insipidity of the wives and concubines, when contrasted with the knowledge of the world and comparatively polished manners exhibited by courtesans, whose society is frequently sought as a relief from the monotony of home.

KASHMIR.

Unoppressed by any rigid code of etiquette, and naturally addicted to pleasure, the people of Kashmir find much of their enjoyment in female society, and from the earliest times have been noted for their love of singers and dancers. In former days the capital city was the scene of constant revels, in which morality was but a secondary consideration, and now the inhabitants relieve the continual struggle against misfortune and despotism by indulging in gross vices, and drown the sense of hopeless poverty in the gratification of animal passions. The women of this delightful valley have long been celebrated for their beauty, and are still called the flower of the Oriental race. The face is of a dark complexion, richly flushed with pink; the eyes large, almond-shaped, and overflowing with a peculiar liquid brilliance; the features regular, harmonious, and fine; the limbs and bodies are models of grace. But all writers agree that art does nothing to aid nature, and it is not unusual to see eyes unsurpassed for brightness and expression flashing from a very dirty face. Among the poorer classes filth and degradation render many women actually repulsive, notwithstanding their resplendent beauty.

Travelers always remark the dancing girls who have acquired so much renown in Kashmir. The village of Changus was at one time celebrated for a colony of these women, who excelled all others in the valley; but now its famous beauties have disappeared, and live only in the traditions of the place. The dancing girls may be divided into several classes. Among the higher may be found those who are virtuous and modest, probably to about the same extent as among actresses, opera singers, and ballet girls in civilized communities. Others frequent entertainments at the houses of rich men, or public festivals, and estimate their favors at a very high price, while the remainder are avowed harlots, prostituting themselves indiscriminately to any who desire their company. Many of these are devoted to the service of some god, whose temple is enriched from the gains of their calling.

The Watul, or Gipsy tribe of Kashmir is remarkable for many lovely women, who are taught to please the taste of the voluptuary. They sing licentious songs in an amorous tone, dance in a lascivious measure, dress in a peculiarly fascinating manner, and seduce by the very expression of their countenances. When they join a company of dancing girls, they are uniformly successful in their vocation, and have been known to amass large sums of money. Now that the valley is in its decadence, their charms find a more profitable market in other places. The bands of dancing girls are usually accompanied by sundry hideous duennas, whose conspicuous ugliness forms a striking contrast to their charge.

The Nach girls are under the surveillance of the government, which licenses their prostitution. They are actual slaves, and can not sing or dance without permission from their overseer, to whom they must resign a large portion of their earnings.

In addition to these, who may be styled poetical courtesans, there exists a swarm of prostitutes frequenting low houses in the cities or boats on the lake; but of them we have no distinct account. It is certain that they are largely visited by the more immoral of the population, and an accurate idea of their status may be formed from a knowledge of the fact that the traveler Moorcraft, who gave gratuitous medical advice to the poor of Serinaghur, had at one time nearly seven thousand patients on his lists, a very large number of whom were suffering from loathsome diseases induced by the grossest and most persevering profligacy. In short, there can be but little doubt that the manners of the inhabitants of this interesting and beautiful valley are corrupt to the last degree.

INDIA.

India exhibits, in its different communities, many aspects of social life, but it may be said, in general terms, that the state of woman is degraded, as she is absolutely dependent upon man, and can do nothing of her own will. She must approach her lord with reverence; is bound to him so long as he desires it, whatever his conduct may be; and if she rebel, is liable to be chastised with a rope or a cane in a cruel manner. Debarred the advantages of education, not allowed to eat with their husbands or to mix in society, women are yet not treated as abject slaves; and from the few revelations of the zenana which have been made, it may be inferred that its inmates receive considerable deference and attention.

Polygamy is permitted in India, but not encouraged by the religious law, and only sanctioned in certain cases, such as barrenness, inconstancy, or some similar cause, and then the wife’s consent must be obtained before a second and subordinate wife can be added to the household.

Marriage is viewed as a religious duty by the Hindoos, only a few being exempt from the obligation. It is forbidden to purchase a wife for money; but the girls have little choice as to their destiny, being usually betrothed while young. A father has the right to dispose of his daughter until three years after the age of puberty, when she may choose a husband for herself: not many remain single till that time, as celibacy would be accounted disgraceful, and few men would marry a maiden so old. In Bengal, betrothal takes place with many rites and much ostentation. The girl-bride is taken to her future husband’s house, and remains there a short time, when she returns to her parents until mature. The anxiety to dispose of a daughter as young as possible arises from the fact that her birth is regarded as inauspicious, and even as a domestic calamity, from which her parents are glad to escape. Hence the character of the bridegroom is a secondary consideration, and marriage often results unhappily. In fact, little else can be expected where the parties are absolutely strangers to each other until the union is effected. The uneducated wife, without a gleam of knowledge, amuses herself by a thousand trivial devices, such as adorning her person, curling her hair, or listening to the gossip of her slaves. It is, nevertheless, generally admitted that the majority of Hindoo women are faithful to their marital vows. The severe laws against unchastity are framed more for preserving caste than morals, and severely punish any woman detected in an intrigue with a man of different grade to herself.

Divorce may be easily effected by the husband, but the wife has no corresponding power. A man who calls his wife “mother,” renounces her by that act. A barren wife may be superseded in the eighth year: she who bears only daughters, or whose children die in the birth, in the eleventh year; and one of an unkind disposition may be divorced without any delay.

The customs that prevail in different provinces respecting wives and their treatment may be described in a few words. In Arracan, when a man wants money, he pawns his wife for a certain sum, or else sells her altogether. In the southern parts of the peninsula polygamy is largely practiced. The Shaynagas of Canara are not allowed to take a second wife unless the first be childless. The Corannas, the Panchalura, and other tribes, permitted polygamy and the purchase of wives. Among the Woddas every man had as many wives as he pleased; all worked for him, and a lazy one was divorced sans ceremonie. The Carruburru took no notice of an act of adultery if the wife was a hard-working woman; otherwise she might live with any man who chose to keep her. In Rajpootana woman holds a higher position, and exercises considerable influence on the actions and tastes of men, for a Rajpoot consults his wife on every important occasion. The estimation in which they are held is indicated by a national proverb, which says, “When wives are honored the gods are pleased; when they are dishonored the gods are offended.” This district exhibits the Hindoo women in the most favorable circumstances, and even here they hold but a subordinate place, as must always be the case where polygamy is tolerated. It is scarcely necessary to review all the local peculiarities of so extended a people: enough has been said to show the social condition of married women. It remains to give some account of prostitution.Some of the dancing women and musicians of Southern India were attached to every temple; a portion were reserved by the sensual Brahmins for their exclusive pleasures, and the rest hired themselves out indiscriminately. Each troop was under a chief, who regulated their performances and prices. In the temple of Tulava, near Mangalore, a curious custom existed. Any woman could dedicate herself to prostitution by eating some of the rice which had been offered to the idol, and was allowed her choice to live within or without its precincts. In the former case, she received a daily allowance of food, and her prostitution was limited to the priests; in the latter, her amours were unrestricted, but a stipulated portion of her profits must be given to the temple. In Sindh every town has a troop of dancing girls, many of whom are very handsome. Before the British conquest the vice was largely encouraged; numbers of the women acquired considerable fortunes, and their political influence was potent in the durbars of the debauched Amirs. An evident reform has taken place of late years.

The lascivious scenes of the southern country are not enacted, at least to the same extent, in Hindostan proper, where the interest of the English government has been directed against immorality. Toward the close of the last century an official report was made on the morals of British India. It was bad enough: much laxity prevailed in private life; receptacles for women of bad character abounded; prostitutes had a place in society, made an important figure at great entertainments, and were admitted to the zenanas to exhibit their voluptuous dances. Contrasted with former years, a great improvement is now perceptible, and the profligacy of large cities scarcely exceeds the vices of European communities. Thus Benares, with a population of 180,000, had 1764 prostitutes; and Decca, with nearly 67,000 inhabitants, had 770 prostitutes.

Apart from governmental influences, it can scarcely be denied that Europeans have contributed to the advance of vice by taking temporary companions. These liaisons were scarcely considered improper. The custom was to purchase girls from their mothers. Many of them were faithful and attached to their protectors, but their extravagance and propensity for gambling made them very costly adjuncts.

The religious ceremonies originated by the Brahmins were often but scenes of the wildest debauchery, rivaling the ancient Egyptian festival of Bubastis, and no good would result from an extended description of dances performed by nude or semi-nude women, of the desecration of wives by a licentious priesthood, or of the disgusting polygamy of the Brahmins. Suffice it to say that such customs existed, but are now yielding to more refined observances.

The general profligacy of the country has introduced syphilis in most parts of Hindostan. Some assert that it was carried there after the discovery of America, but neither history nor tradition warrants this opinion. It may be noticed that it is not called by any Sanscrit word, but is known by a Persian appellation.

Our notice of India would be incomplete without an allusion to the suttee, or burning of widows, and to infanticide. The Shastres are full of recommendations to perform the first of these shocking observances, and promise ineffable bliss to the voluntary victim. It was carried to such an extent that fifteen thousand women are reported to have perished in one year in Bengal. This is doubtless an exaggeration, although the number was confessedly very large. Among the horrible details of the practice we find that betrothed children of eight or ten years old, and women of eighty-five, have alike been thrown into the burning pile. Fearful scenes have been witnessed on these occasions. A miserable wretch has twice escaped from the fire and clung to the feet of a traveler, vainly imploring him to save her; and then, naked, and with the flesh already burned from parts of her body, has been bound and thrown into the flames by the frantic relatives. Let British rule in India be what it may, no man, no “Aborigines Protection Society,” can regret its spread, in conjunction with the services rendered to our common humanity by the abolition of the suttee.

Infanticide formerly prevailed to a great extent, but is now almost extirpated from British India. The crime was sanctioned by custom, but not by religion or tradition. Its victims were chiefly females, and their murder was in consequence of the difficulty of marrying them within the required bounds of caste, or of the ruinous expenses which fashion required should be incurred at the wedding ceremonies, rather than from any other cause. It appears to have been the custom among the ancient dwellers on the banks of the Indus for the father of a female child to carry it to the market-place, and publicly demand if any one wanted a wife. If the reply was in the affirmative, it was betrothed at once, and carefully reared, but otherwise it was immediately killed. Wilkinson asserted twenty-five years ago that twenty thousand children were annually murdered in Malwa and Rajpootana, but by the system of rewarding parents who reared their offspring, and the gradual introduction of salutary laws, a mighty reform has been effected.

CEYLON.

Under the original institutions of the Singhalese, they never licensed public prostitution, nor made brothels of the temples, as in India. Whatever effect the Buddhist religion produced was in favor of virtue, but the character of the people is naturally sensual; profligacy among men and want of chastity among women are general characteristics, and even those who profess Christianity and acknowledge the moral law of England are not free from this stain.

In Ceylon, as, indeed, in most parts of Asia, marriage is contracted at an early age. A man “attains his majority” at sixteen, and a girl as soon as marriageable by nature is marriageable by law, at which time her parents or relatives give a feast, inviting a number of single men. Soon after, a man who may desire to marry her sends one of his friends to her parents to mention, in apparently a casual manner, that a rumor of the intended marriage of his friend and their daughter is in circulation. If this announcement meets a favorable reception, the father of the bridegroom calls, inquires the amount of the dowry, and carries the negotiation a few steps farther. Mutual visits are then exchanged, preliminaries settled, and an auspicious day fixed for the wedding, which takes place with much ceremony. The stars are consulted in every step, and should the bridegroom’s horoscope differ from the bride’s, his younger brother may act as his proxy at the ceremony. The whole Buddhaical ritual is a tedious succession of formalities, entails enormous expenses, and can not be followed by the poor. To those of low caste it is positively forbidden, even if they are rich enough to meet the outlay, and with these marriage is limited to a simple agreement between the parents of the young couple.

Among the Kandians polyandrism prevails to a great extent, a matron of high caste being sometimes the wife of eight brothers. The people justify this custom upon several grounds: among the rich, because it prevents litigation, saves property from minute subdivision, and concentrates family influence; with the poor, because it reduces expenses, and frequently where one brother could not alone maintain a wife and family, the association of several can command the means. This plurality of husbands is not necessarily confined to brothers, for a man may, with his wife’s consent, introduce a stranger, who is called an “associated husband,” and is entitled to all marital rights. This practice does not extend beyond the province of Kandy, although it was formerly prevalent throughout the maritime districts of the island.

Another Kandian peculiarity was a kind of marriage called “Bema,” in which the husband lived at his wife’s house. He received but little respect from his relations, and could be ejected at once if unpopular. There is an ancient proverb in reference to this dubious arrangement, which says that a man married according to the Bema process should only take to his bride’s house a pair of sandals to protect his feet, a palm leaf to shield his head, a staff to support him if sick, and a lantern in case he should be expelled in the dark, so that he may be prepared to depart at any hour of the day or night.

In Ceylon, women frequently seek for divorces for the most trivial causes, and as separation can be attained by a mere return of the marriage gifts, it often takes place. If a child is born within nine months from this separation, the husband is required to support it for three years. If a married woman commits adultery, and the husband is a witness, he may kill her lover. When a man puts away his wife on account of an intrigue, he may disinherit her and the whole of her offspring, even if the latter were born before any crime had been committed by their mother. If he seeks a divorce from caprice, he must relinquish all his wife’s property, and share with her whatever may have accumulated during their cohabitation. The Singhalese do not always exercise their privileges, but are frequently indulgent husbands, and forgive offenses which most people hold unpardonable. In proof of this, a Kandian asked the British authorities to compel the return of an unfaithful wife, pleading his love for her, and promising to forget her frailty. English jurisdiction did not extend so far as this, and the woman coolly turned her back upon her husband and accompanied her paramour, whom she soon after deserted for a third partner. Many instances of this kind have induced the native poets to produce a number of satirical effusions upon woman’s inconstancy, and a traveler translates the following specimen:

“‘I’ve seen the adumbra-tree in flower, white plumage on the crow,
And fishes’ footsteps on the deep have traced through ebb and flow;’
If man it is who thus asserts, his words you may believe,
But all that woman says, distrust; she speaks but to deceive.”

To understand the first clause, it will be necessary to remember that the adumbra is a kind of fig-tree, and the natives assert that no mortal has ever seen it in bloom.

Infanticide was at one time common in Ceylon, and all female children, except the first-born, were liable to be sacrificed, especially if born under a malignant planet; but latterly the British government have denounced the crime as murder, and punished it accordingly. This has had the effect of gradually abolishing it, and the population has increased in consequence.

The social condition of the Singhalese women is not so degraded as in other parts of the East, but their moral character does not correspond. Profligacy is prevalent. Open and acknowledged prostitution is rare, excepting in the sea-port towns, and of its extent there we have no reliable particulars. Under the Kandian dynasty a common harlot had her hair and ears cut off, and was publicly whipped in a state of nudity.

ULTRA GANGETIC NATIONS.

In this division we include the immense tract lying between Hindostan and China. Although these countries present some variety of customs and degrees of progress, yet, generally speaking, their manners are uniform. In all, the condition of women is extremely low. They are held in contempt, are taught to abase themselves in their own minds, and employ their license by degrading themselves still farther. The effect of Asiatic despotism is plainly visible: every man is the king’s serf, and the support of the community devolves upon the women, who, in Cochin China especially, plow, sow, reap, fell trees, build, and perform all the other offices civilization assigns to the stronger sex.

The marriage contract is a mere bargain. A man buys his wife, and may extend his purchases as far as he pleases, the first bought being usually the chief. A simple agreement before witnesses seals the union, which can be dissolved with equal facility, the only requisite in Cochin China being to break a chopstick or porcupine quill in presence of a third person. A man has also the privilege of selling his inferior wives.

The unmarried women are almost universally unchaste, and do not incur infamy or lose the chance of marriage by prostituting themselves. Custom allows a father to yield his daughter to any visitor he may wish to honor, or to hire her for a stipulated price to any one desirous of her company, and she has no power to resist the arrangement, although she can not be married against her will.

A wife is considered sacred, more as the property of her husband than from respect to her chastity. The theory of the law is, that a man’s harem can not be invaded, even by the king himself; but Asiatic absolutism was never famed for its adherence to law when personal interest was in the other scale, and there is but little exception in this case.

Adultery is punished in Siam by fine, and in Cochin China by death. In Burmah executions of females are very rare, but they are disciplined with the aid of the bamboo, husbands sometimes flogging their wives in the open streets.

Although professed prostitutes exist in large numbers throughout the region, still there are not so many as might be expected, because no single woman is required to be chaste. Little is known of their habits, peculiarities, or position, except that in Siam they are incapacitated from giving evidence before a justice. This restriction does not seem to arise from a consideration of their immorality, but from local prejudices, and the disability under which they labor is also extended to braziers and blacksmiths.

CELEBES.

Leaving the Asiatic Continent for a short time, we will now examine the condition of the inhabitants of Celebes. This island is noticed here rather than with Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, which are included in the list of barbarous nations, because it enjoys a considerable degree of civilization, and in its political and social state is far in advance of other countries of the Indian Archipelago. The idea of freedom is recognized in its public system, and its institutions have assumed a republican form.

Women are not excluded from their share in public business; and though their influence is usually indirect, their counsel is sought by the men on all important occasions. In Wajo, they are not only elected to the throne, or, rather, the presidential chair, but also often fill the great offices of state. Four out of the six councilors are frequently females.

Their domestic condition, to some extent, corresponds with their political privileges. The wife has the uncontrolled management of her household, eating with her husband, and mingling freely with the other sex on public or festival occasions. The women ride about, transact business, and even visit foreigners as they please, and their chastity is better guarded by the sense of honor and the pride of virtue, than by the jealousy of husbands or the surveillance of parents.

This is the bright side of the picture. For the reverse, we find the barbarian practice of polygamy, which is universally permitted, under certain restrictions. The most important of these is that two wives seldom inhabit the same house; each has usually a separate dwelling. The men can easily procure a divorce, and, if the wish to separate is mutual, nothing remains but to do so as quickly as possible. If the woman alone desires to be released from the matrimonial bond, she must produce a reasonable ground of complaint. Concubinage is rarely practiced, although some man may take a woman of inferior rank as a companion until he can marry a girl whose birth equals his own.

The morals of both men and women are superior to those of any other race in eastern or western Asia. Prostitution is all but unknown. The dancing girls are generally admitted to be of easy virtue, but even they preserve decorum in their manners, and dress with great decency, although their public performances are of a lascivious nature.

CHINA.

In the immense empire of China a general uniformity of manners is observable, for its civilization has been cast in a mould fashioned by despotism, and the iron discipline of its government forces all to yield. There is great reason to believe that prostitution forms no exception to the rule. We know that a remarkable system exists, that frail women abound in the Celestial Empire, and form a distinct class. We know something of the manner in which they live, and how or by whom they are encouraged, but no traveler has as yet given any lucid account of the vice and its connections, and our comparatively meagre knowledge is drawn from a multiplicity of sources.

The general condition of the female sex in China is inferior to the male, and the precepts and examples of Confucius have taught the people that the former were created for the convenience of the latter. Feminine virtue is severely guarded by the law; not for the sake of virtue, but for the well-being of the state and the interest of the men. But national morality, inculcated by codes, essays, and poems, is, in fact, a dead letter, for the Chinese rank among the most immoral people on the earth. The inferiority of women is recognized in their politics, which embrace the spirit of the Salic law. The throne can be occupied only by a man, and an illegitimate son is more respected than a legitimate daughter.

The paternal government of China has not failed to legislate on the subject of marriage. In this contract the inclinations of the parties themselves are practically ignored; parental authority is supreme, and it is not unusual for weddings to take place between persons who have never seen each other before the union. Matchmaking is followed as a profession by some old women, who are remunerated when they succeed. When two families commence a negotiation of this kind, all particulars are required to be fully explained on both sides, so that no deceit can be practiced. The engagement is then drawn, and the amount of presents agreed on. This contract is irrevocable. If the friends of the girl desire to break off the match, the one who had authority to dispose of her receives fifty strokes of the bamboo, and the marriage proceeds. If the bridegroom, or the friend who controls him is dissatisfied, he receives the same punishment, and must fulfill his engagement. If either of the parties is incontinent after betrothal, the crime is punished as adultery. If any deceit has been practiced, and either person has falsely represented the party about to be married, the offender is severely punished, and the marriage is void, even if completed. In spite of all precautions, such instances sometimes occur. It must be noticed that, though betrothal binds a woman positively to her future husband, yet he can not force her from her friends before the stipulated time has expired, nor can they retain her beyond the assigned day.

Polygamy is allowed under certain restrictions. The first wife is usually chosen from a family equal in station to that of the husband, and acquires all the rights and privileges which belong to a chief wife in any Asiatic country. The man may then take as many more women as he can afford to keep, but these are inferior in rank to the first married, although the children have a contingent claim to the inheritance. This position, if it brings no positive honor, brings little shame. It is sanctioned by usage, but was originally condemned by strict moralists, who designated the arrangement by a word compounded of crime and woman. It is a position which only a poor or humble woman will consent to occupy. A national proverb says, “It is more honorable to be the wife of a poor man than the concubine of an emperor.” The social rule which makes all subsequent wives subordinate to the one first married may probably have had some effect in forming this opinion.

The Chinese system is rigid as to the degrees of consanguinity between which marriage may be contracted. In ancient times the reverse of this seems to have been the rule, and tradition says that much immorality was the result. The law now prohibits all unions between persons of the same family name, and is attended with some inconvenience, because the number of proper names is small. If such a marriage is contracted, it is declared void, and the parties are punished by blows and a fine. If the couple are previously related by marriage within four degrees, the union is declared incestuous, and the offenders are punished with the bamboo, or, in extreme cases, by strangling or decapitation.

Not only are the degrees of relationship definitely specified, but the union of classes is under restriction. An officer of government must not marry into a family under his jurisdiction, or, if he does, is subject to a heavy punishment; the same being accorded to the girl’s relations if they have voluntarily aided him, but they are exempt if their submission was the result of his authority. To marry a woman absconding from justice is prohibited. To forcibly wed a freeman’s daughter subjects the offender to strangulation. An officer of government, or any hereditary functionary, who marries a woman of a disreputable class, receives sixty strokes of the bamboo, and the same modicum awaits any priest who marries at all, he being also expelled from his order. Slaves and free persons are forbidden to intermarry. Those who connive at an illegal union are considered criminals, and punished accordingly.

According to Chinese law, any one of seven specified causes are allowed to justify divorce, namely, barrenness, lasciviousness, disregard of the husband’s parents, talkativeness (!), thievish propensities, an envious, suspicious temper, or inveterate infirmity. Against these the woman has three pleas, any one of which, if substantiated, will annul the husband’s application. They are, that she has mourned three years for her husband’s family; that the family has become rich, having been poor at the time of marriage; or, that she has no father or mother living to receive her. These are useless when she has committed adultery, in which case her husband is positively forbidden to retain her, but under other circumstances they present a check to his caprice. In cases of adultery, a man may kill both his wife and her paramour if he detect them and execute his vengeance forthwith, but he must not put her to death for any other crime. In the same connection may be mentioned a law denouncing severe penalties on any man who lends his wife or daughter. This is not an obsolete enactment against an unknown offense, for instances do sometimes occur of poor men selling their wives as concubines to their richer neighbors, while others prostitute them for gain.

From this view of the social condition of women and the laws of marriage, it is necessary to pass to a subject which has given China an unenviable notoriety, namely, the custom of infanticide. Two causes appear to have encouraged this practice: the poverty of the lower classes, and the severity of the laws respecting illicit sexual intercourse. The former is the principal cause. When the parents are so indigent as to have no hope of maintaining their children, the daughters are murdered, for a son can earn his living in a few years, and assist his parents in addition. Among this class the birth of a female is viewed as a calamity. Several methods are adopted to destroy the child. It may be drowned in warm water, its throat may be pinched, a wet cloth may be pressed over its mouth, it may be choked with rice, or it may be buried alive.

When Mr. Smith, a missionary, was in the suburbs of Canton in 1844, he made many inquiries as to the extent of infanticide. A native assured him that, within a circle of ten miles’ radius, the children killed each year would not exceed five hundred. In Fokien province the crime was more general, and at a place called Kea King Chow there were computed to be from five to six hundred cases every month. A foundling hospital at Canton was named as preventing much of the crime, but it seems to have received only five hundred infants yearly; but a very small proportion of the births. The Chinese generally confess that infanticide is practiced throughout the empire, and is regarded as an innocent and proper expedient for lightening the pressure of poverty. It is not wholly confined to the poor; the rich resort to it to conceal their amours. The laws punish illicit intercourse with from seventy to one hundred strokes of the bamboo. If a child is born, its support devolves upon the father; but in cases where the connection has been concealed, this evidence is usually destroyed.Prostitution prevails to a prodigious extent. “Seduction and adultery,” says Williams, in his Survey of the Chinese Empire, “are comparatively infrequent, but brothels and their inmates are found every where, on land and water. One danger attending young girls walking alone is that they will be stolen for incarceration in these gates of hell.” This allusion may be explained by the fact that in 1832 there were from eight to ten thousand prostitutes in and near Canton, of whom the greater portion had been stolen while children, and regularly trained for this life. Many kidnappers gained a living by stealing young girls and selling them to the brothels, and in times of want parents have been known to lead their daughters through the streets and offer them for sale. A recent visitor to Canton describes the sale of children as an every-day affair, which is looked upon as a simple mercantile transaction. Some are disposed of for concubines, but others are deliberately bartered to be brought up as prostitutes, and are transferred at once to the brothels.

Of Chinese houses of prostitution we have no particular description, but one singular feature is the brothel junks, which are moored in conspicuous stations on the Pearl River, and are distinguished by their superior decorations. Many of them are called “Flower Boats,” and form whole avenues in the floating suburbs of Canton. The women lead a life of reckless extravagance, plunging into all the excitements which are offered by their mode of life to release themselves from ennui or reflection. Diseases are very prevalent among them, and visitors suffer severely for their temporary pleasures. They are usually congregated in troops, under the government of a man who is answerable for their conduct, or for any violation of public peace or decency. The last can scarcely be considered an offense, for the Chinese make a display of their visits to brothels. Persons pass to and from the Flower Boats without any attempt at concealment, and rich men sometimes make up a party, send to one of the junks, retain as many women as they wish, and collectively pass the time in debauch and licentiousness.

This is not the only form prostitution assumes in China. Women of the poorer classes, whose friends are not able to provide for them, are lodged in prison under the care of female warders, and these employ their prisoners in prostitution for their benefit. An incident which occurred at Shenshee a few years since reveals another phase. A young widow resided there with her mother-in-law, both being supported by the prostitution of the former. Her charms failed, she was deserted by her visitors, and starvation seemed inevitable. The old woman would not recognize her daughter’s inability to support her, and flogged her. The prostitute, in attempting self-defense, killed her mother. She was convicted of the crime, but, as the victim had acted illegally in endeavoring to force her to prostitution, the sentence of the court, which had ordered her to be hewn to pieces, was commuted into decapitation.

As before remarked, it is much to be regretted that we have not more reliable information of the vice, which is acknowledged to be all but universal in China.[370]

JAPAN.

The recent connection established by American enterprise with the semi-fabulous empire of Japan (the Zipangi of Columbus) makes the institutions of that country more than usually interesting. From the earliest accounts of the Dutch and Jesuit writers to the present time, we know that the Japanese, like the Chinese, have attained a high degree of civilization, and among both, the vices which, in the present experience of mankind, seem the accompaniments of that improvement, have been developed in a remarkable degree.

Among savage tribes female honor is held in very little esteem; the woman is merely property. As we advance in the scale of intelligence they take higher grade, and virtue and modesty are more cherished. Our information concerning Japan is, even yet, comparatively limited, but no circumstance of its ordinary life seems more clear than that female virtue among the higher classes is much valued, and that, at the same time, there is an enormous extent of public prostitution, in which men of all ranks indulge.

The Jesuit Charleroix, Koempfer, Adams, and some Dutch writers, have given accounts of Japan from the sixteenth century to the present time. Like most Oriental nations, the manners and habits of the Japanese have undergone so little change, that the practices of a century ago are the fashions of to-day. The most recent traveler (for those who composed Commodore Perry’s expedition can hardly be said to come under that denomination) is Captain Golownin, and he had opportunities for close observation not equaled since the times of the early writers. He was commander of the Russian sloop-of-war Diana, and visited the Japanese empire in 1811. Having paid a visit of ceremony ashore, he was induced, by the duplicity of the Japanese, who are adepts in all the political arts of lying and hypocrisy, to trust himself in their hands a second time without arms or escort. The Japanese had an old grudge to settle with the Russians on account of injuries done them by certain individuals of that nation, and took the opportunity of rendering a quid pro quo by entrapping the unlucky Golownin, who was thus made prisoner. He was treated at first with much indignity and severity; afterward with more indulgence, but did not regain his liberty for upward of two years.

The Japanese can marry only one wife, but have as many concubines as they please. The precise value of the distinction is not readily appreciated, as the concubine does not lose caste by her position. There are great facilities of divorce, and without cause shown; but a gentleman who exercises this privilege loses his character as a husband, and can only procure another wife or additional concubines by paying a large price to his father-in-law. Adultery is punished with death, either by law or at the hands of the husband. Japanese husbands are represented as jealous, and as keeping their wives and women in strict seclusion. This strictness is relaxed in the cases of the middle and poorer classes, the necessities of the household removing those artificial obligations imposed on the higher ranks by pride or fashion. But even the women of the humbler ranks do not converse with, or even speak to strangers, unless in the presence of their husbands.

An anecdote is told in Adams’s narrative which somewhat resembles that of Lucretia in Roman history, and which would imply great self-respect among the high caste of Japanese ladies. A nobleman made dishonorable advances toward a lady of rank during her husband’s absence on a journey, and, notwithstanding a repulse from her, seized an opportunity to gratify his passion by violence. On the husband’s return the wife treated him with reserve, and declined any explanation of her singular conduct, which, however, she promised to afford at a banquet to be given the following day. Accordingly, during the feast, at which the author of the outrage was present, when the guests had satisfied their appetites, the lady made her appearance. She told her husband and his friends what had happened, denounced herself as unworthy to live, received the caresses of her husband and relations, by whom, however, she refused to be comforted, and then leaped from the parapet of the house, and so killed herself. Meanwhile the criminal had escaped; but when the horror-stricken guests rushed out to pick up the devoted wife, they found the nobleman weltering in his own blood at her side. He had ripped himself up, the ordinary way of committing suicide in Japan.

The Japanese brothels are of great splendor, and very numerously frequented, containing thirty, forty, fifty, or even a larger number of women. Every place of public entertainment or refreshment maintains prostitutes as a part of the establishment. On stopping at a tavern, it is customary for the courtesans of the house to come out, painted and bedizened, and set forth the claims of their house to the traveler’s patronage, exhibiting themselves as one of the items of the bill of fare. No village, however insignificant, is without one or more houses of ill fame, and there are villages on much-frequented roads, in popular districts, the whole of whose female inhabitants are prostitutes. Two in particular, Agasaki and Goy, are thus described by Koempfer. The females are designated Keise, which literally signifies a castle turned upside down. It is uncertain whether the government licenses these places, or merely tolerates them. The former is the more probable, when it is considered that in their mythology they have a goddess analogous to the Corinthian Venus, in whose worship prostitution is a recognized part of the ceremony. Attached to the temple of this impure deity are a large number of priestesses, six hundred or upward, who all prostitute themselves to the worshipers. Notwithstanding this large force, there are constant offers to recruit the ranks by young girls.

The extent of this vice, which is universal throughout the empire, would cause it to be taken as a regular institution of Japan. Nothing is done sub rosa. Courtesans form part of a pleasure party; parents sell their children to brothel-keepers, or apprentice them for a time to such places, and at the expiration of their term they resume (it is said, but this is doubtful) their places in society without any stain on their reputations. Husbands make bargains for the transfer of their wives’ charms, which is a legitimate charge over and above the gratuity to be accorded to the lady. Koempfer, in describing the prostitute quarter of Nagasaki, says it consists of very handsome houses. The poor people sell their prettiest daughters to the brothel-keepers, who bring the girls up with various accomplishments. The price of these women is regulated by law, and many of the prostitutes are enabled to abandon their calling, for their good education and agreeable manners procure them husbands, and in their married condition they are fully as good as others.In his lifetime the brothel-keeper is said by some writers to rank with the skinner or tanner, an opprobrious calling, while others say he ranks with merchants, and his company is not deemed objectionable. This latter statement, if true, may be owing to the circumstance that he holds a government license. In Japan, as in China, the crown is the fountain of all distinction, and every government official has peculiar privileges and a distinct position in the social scale. After his death, however, the brothel-keeper is held in great disesteem. The sanctity of the burial-place, to which particular reverence attaches, would be polluted by his unholy presence, and his odious remains are denied the rite of sepulture, and are dragged in the clothes in which he died to a dunghill, there to be devoured by wild beasts and birds of prey.

Prostitution as a public institution is said to have been introduced into Japan by a certain warlike emperor or usurper, who, leading his troops from one place to another in the empire, feared lest, from want of home comforts and domestic ties, they might become disgusted and abandon his service. Accordingly, as a substitute for lawful enjoyments, he had stations for bands of prostitutes at various points, to the nearest of which he led his fatigued soldiers after his engagements.

Another statement as to the origin of this system is that, on one occasion during a revolution, the spiritual emperor having fled, attended by his foster-mother and a numerous band of female attendants, temporary nuns, the emperor and his foster-mother drowned themselves in fear of capture by the enemies; whereupon the attendant nuns, cut off from all other resource, adopted libertinism as a means of livelihood, and this gave the first public example and sanction to a reprobate state of life.

There are in Japan various religious institutions of a character similar to convents and monasteries. The vow of celibacy and chastity is one of the requisites of this state, yet, notwithstanding this vow, the monks are described as living very intemperately, seducing both women and girls, and committing other shameful enormities.[371]

Among the mendicant religious orders to which both sexes belong, the nuns are numerous. They are described as being very fine-looking women. They are generally the children of indigent parents, and good looks are essential to success in their calling, between which and prostitution there seems no difference save in name. Indeed, many of these mendicant nuns go direct from the brothel to their new employment, which, combining various qualifications, is probably more lucrative.

We have been unable to find any information as to the nature or extent of venereal diseases, if any, in Japan. Of infanticide also we have no account.

Commodore Perry, in the Narrative of his Expedition, confirms the facts above stated so far as his opportunities for observation extended. Difficulties were at first thrown in the way of his seeing the Japanese women, and when he walked about the interpreters preceded him, and, under a show of doing him honor, ordered all the women into their houses. Afterward, on the commodore’s remonstrance, the women were allowed to make their appearance, and their manners and looks were not by any means unpleasing. When the officers of the expedition were entertained, they sometimes waited on the party with tea, coffee, and other refreshments. Their manners were mild, their countenances were soft and pleasing, the only objectionable point about them being the abominable habit of blackening their teeth with a highly corrosive pigment partly composed of iron filings and a fermented liquor called saki, which affected the gums very offensively, and caused an appearance and odor decidedly unpleasing to the tastes of Western travelers.

The women of the working classes were engaged in hard field and out-door labor, but not to a greater extent than in densely populated countries in most parts of the world. Commodore Perry assumes that licentiousness must be prevalent in large cities, but he bears his testimony to the good conduct of the women whom the people of the expedition met while on shore.[372]

The opportunities of information and particular inquiry were, however, not very great, owing to the more important political objects of the visit, and the not very protracted stay of the squadron in Japan.

Not content with the excess of incontinence in which the Japanese as a nation indulge, they largely practice unnatural vices, and the youth of the province of Kioto, which is the peculiar appanage of the spiritual emperor, are celebrated on account of their beauty, and command a high price in this horrid traffic.

TARTAR RACES.

Central Asia is but little known and seldom visited. Among the most remarkable of its people are the Kirghiz Kazaks, who form a nation of shepherds. They dwell in huts, or temporary habitations of wicker-work covered with fleeces, and are a robust, hardy race, addicted to sensual enjoyments. Their manners as to the treatment of the female sex are coarse, but it is curious to remark that, while the men are indolent and licentious, the women are fond of exertion, for which their only recompense is to be treated as slaves.

The Kirghiz, when rich enough, eagerly avail themselves of the privilege of polygamy; indeed, this part of the Mohammedan creed is the one they have embraced with most ardor, yet few possess sufficient wealth to marry more than one wife. The price paid for a woman will range from five or six sheep among the poorer classes, to two hundred, five hundred, or even a thousand horses among the rich, to which are added different household effects, and occasionally a few male or female slaves. A considerable share of these payments is absorbed by the Mohammedan moolahs, who find a profitable source of revenue in marrying these people. They consecrate the union as soon as projected, and immediately the amount of the kalym, or price, has been arranged between the parties, the moolah solemnly asks the parents of the bride and bridegroom, “Do you consent to the union of the children?” repeating the question three times to each, and then reading prayers for the happiness of the couple to be married. No marriage is complete till the whole of the stipulated amount is paid, but neither party can honorably retract after the first installment has been offered and accepted. From that time the bridegroom has leave to visit his bride, if he engages not to take away her chastity. In cases where this liberty leads to an anticipation of the final ceremony, the unpaid portion of the kalym is not allowed to protract the union, which is hastened as much as possible. If a man find his wife to have been incontinent before he married her, he may return her to her parents, and demand the restitution of her price, or the substitution of one of her sisters. If he actually detects her in the commission of adultery, he may kill her, otherwise the adulterer is fined, and the wife may be divorced or chastised.

The morals of the Kirghiz are good. Chastity in the woman is highly prized, and the sensuality of the men is served by prostitutes, who live in each camp, either in companies or in separate tents. Numbers of these women appear wherever the Russians have encampments, and virulent disease among them has tended rapidly to thin the people. The prostitutes are composed of two classes—widows and divorced women, who have no other means of subsistence, and linger out a miserable life in dirt, rags, and contempt; and a few who addict themselves to prostitution from mere licentiousness.

CIRCASSIA.

The race known as Abassians, considered the aborigines of the Caucasus, were described by Strabo as a predatory people—pirates at sea, and robbers on land. These characteristics they preserve to the present day, but otherwise they are a virtuous nation, strange to the worst vices of civilized life, and humble in their desires. Their religion permits polygamy, but as wives are costly, they are usually contented with one, who is the companion rather than the menial of her husband. The women are industrious, are allowed full liberty, and are free in their social intercourse, the veil being worn only to screen their complexions, and not for seclusion.

Their laws against immorality are stringent. An act of illicit intercourse is punished by fine or banishment. A dishonest wife is returned to her parents, and by them sold as a slave, as is also a wanton girl. Illegitimate children can not claim any relationship, and if sold as slaves or assassinated, no one is expected to redeem them in the one case, or avenge them in the other. When a man desires to divorce his wife, he must give his reasons before a council of elders, and if they are not satisfied, he must pay her parents a stated amount to recompense them for the burden thus thrown upon them. Should the woman marry again within two years, this sum is returned.

Among the Circassians themselves women are not secluded. A man will often introduce his wife and daughters to a traveler, and unmarried women are frequently seen at public assemblies. They observe one singular custom: a husband never appears abroad with his wife, and scarcely ever sees her during the day. This is in accordance with ancient habits, and is a prolongation of the marriage etiquette, which requires a man, after he has removed his bride’s corset of leather, worn by all virgins, for some time to refrain from openly living with her.Throughout the Caucasus a high state of morality is found. Open prostitution is unknown, and any girl leading a notoriously immoral life would be compelled to fly beyond the bounds of the territory, if she escaped being sold as a slave or put to death by her indignant friends. There is a general opinion that Circassians will sell their daughters to any Turk or Persian who wishes to buy them, but this is not the fact. They are particularly careful as to the position of any one who wishes to intermarry with them. Great precautions are taken to insure the happiness of the girls, and long-continued negotiations frequently lead to no result. The majority of females sold as Circassians are either children stolen from the neighboring Cossacks, or slaves procured from those Circassian traders who own allegiance to Russia.

TURKEY.

Proud, sensual, and depraved in his tastes, the Turk is too indolent to acquire even the means of gratifying his most powerful cravings. Satisfying his pride with the memory of former glories, his lust looks forward to the enjoyment of a paradise crowded with beautiful ministers of pleasure, and he passes his time in an atmosphere of Epicurean speculation, lounging on cushions and sipping coffee with a dreamy indifference to all external objects. Even the poor indulge in this idleness. They measure the amount of labor necessary to keep them from positive want, and spend the rest of their time waiting the sensual heaven promised by their prophet. In such a lethargy the most violent passions are fostered, and when these become excited the Turk can not be surpassed in brutal fury. All his fancies are gross; moral power is an incomprehensible idea, and he can conceive no authority not enforced by whip or sword.

The Turkish character thus exhibited corresponds with their estimate of the female sex. The person alone is loved; intellect in a Turkish woman is rarely developed and never prized. She finds her chief employment in decorating her person, her sole enjoyment in lounging on a pile of cushions, and admiring the elegance of her costume. Turkey is literally the empire of the senses.

Polygamy is now growing into disrepute there. Recent laws have conferred many privileges upon women in matters of property, and their comparative independence has rendered them averse to a position in which they only acquire secondary rank. Men who marry wives of equal rank to themselves frequently engage in their marriage contracts not to form a second alliance, and this stipulation is very seldom violated.

The customs of the country do not permit a man to see his wife before marriage. She may gratify her curiosity by a stealthy glance at him, but this privilege is seldom used. In consequence of the separation of the sexes, a race of professional match-makers has arisen, as in China, who realize considerable profits from their calling. Children of three or four years old are sometimes betrothed, marriage taking place about fourteen. When a wedding is contemplated, each family deputes an agent to arrange preliminaries, the terms of the contract are embodied in a legal document, and the woman is then called “a wife by writing.” This is concluded some days before the actual wedding, but the interval is occupied with rejoicings and hospitality, on which the bridegroom generally expends a year’s income. The union is a mere civil contract blessed by religious rites. All concubines are slaves, even in the harem of the sultan, since no free Turkish woman can occupy that position.

The morals of Turkish women are generally described as very loose. Their veils favor an intrigue, the most jealous husband passing his wife in the street without knowing her. The places of assignation are usually the Jews’ shops, where they meet their lovers, but preserve their incognito even to them. Lady Mary Wortley Montague imagined “the number of faithful wives to be very small in a country where they have nothing to fear from a lover’s indiscretion.”

The dancing girls of Turkey are prostitutes by profession. Their performances are much enjoyed by all classes, and they dance as lasciviously in the harem, where they are often invited to amuse the wives and concubines, as before a party of convivialists in the kiosks. Their costume is exceedingly rich, both in color and material. During the day they resort to coffee-houses, where they attach themselves to companions whom they entertain with songs, tales, or caresses until night, when their orgies are transferred to houses belonging to their chiefs. Many of these habitations are furnished with every possible luxury.

Another form of prostitution is temporary marriage. For instance, a man on a journey will arrive in a strange city, where he desires to remain some time. He immediately bargains for a female companion, a regular agreement is drawn up, and he supports her and remunerates her friends while he remains. When he is tired of her, or wishes to leave the place, she returns to her friends, and patiently waits for another engagement of the same kind.

NORTHERN AFRICA.

A very brief notice only is required of the semi-barbarous states of Northern Africa, particularly as an account of Algeria under the French has already been given. The mass of the population are Moors, and therefore our remarks will mainly apply to them. Like the Turks, they are proud, ignorant, sensual, and depraved, and their treatment of women exactly accords with this character. They regard the female sex but as material instruments of man’s gratification; and this idea is become so generally received, that the sole education of a girl is such as will render her acceptable to some gross sensualist. Intellect and sentiment are not the possessions which will recommend her: to be attractive, she must be fat. A girl of such bulk as to be a good load for a camel is considered a perfect beauty, and, accordingly, the mother does not train her daughter in seductive arts, but feeds her into a seductive appearance, as pigeons are fed in some parts of Italy. She is made to swallow every day a certain number of balls of paste saturated with oil, and the rod overcomes any reluctance she may have to the diet.

The Moors are extremely jealous of their enormous wives. Some have been known to kill their women before proceeding on a journey; others have forbidden them to name an animal of the masculine gender. They are entirely shut up within the walls of the harem, where they pass their time perfuming and decorating their persons, to attract the favor of their lords.

The general marriage laws of Mohammedan countries prevail in the Barbary States. Four wives and as many concubines as he pleases are the limits within which a man is confined, but few men marry more than one woman.

An extensive system of prostitution prevails in all the cities. The low drinking-shops are crowded with women. The public dancers, who all belong to the sisterhood, exist in large numbers, and are very much encouraged. Their society is a favorite recreation with Moors of all classes. A man entertaining a party of friends will send for a company of dancers to amuse them. There, amid the fumes of tobacco, and sometimes of liquor (for the precepts of the Koran are disregarded on such occasions), the women practice the most degrading obscenities, and the orgies become such as no pen can describe. These prostitutes are of various classes, from the low, vulgar wretches who exist in misery, filth, and disease, to the wealthy courtesans who live in luxury and splendor.

A late traveler was introduced by a friend to a “Moorish lady.” He was ushered into a spacious apartment hung with rich-colored silks. Reclining on a splendid divan, with every appliance of wealth around her, was a woman of extreme loveliness. Elegant in her manners and address, she seemed a model of feminine grace, nor did the visitor discover until after he had left her that he had been conversing with a Moorish prostitute.

SIBERIA.

The state of manners to which the population of these snowy tracts has arrived is very low. They are rude, ignorant, and gross. The condition and character of the female sex correspond with that of the male. In the perpetual migration of tribes they bear the heaviest burdens, and in their habitations the man regards his wife as a mere domestic slave, to whom it is unnecessary even to speak a kind word. There are some exceptions to this rule, especially toward the centre of the district, removed from Russia on the one hand and the sea on the other, where more equality of the sexes is observable.

A wife is generally obtained by purchase, and if a man is not rich enough to pay the sum demanded by the parents of a girl for the privilege of marrying her, he hires himself to them for a term ranging from three to ten years, according to an agreement, and his services in that time are considered equivalent to the value of his bride. These contracts are faithfully observed, the woman is invariably given up at the specified time, and the man released from his servile condition, and admitted to all the dignities and rights of a son-in-law. Where the bridegroom is in a condition to pay for his bride, the preliminary negotiations are managed by his friends and her parents; they are very quietly arranged, but the spirit of bargaining is strong on both sides. The stipulated amount must be paid before the marriage is completed; and if a man steals away his bride before he has paid the full cost, the father watches an opportunity and recaptures her, retaining her in pledge until the balance is forthcoming.

The marriage ceremonies vary in different tribes. With some there is no feast or form of any kind; with others every marriage must take place in a newly-built hut, where no impure things can have been. The most detailed account of marriage ceremonies we can find is among the Tschuwasses. They offer a sacrifice of bread and honey to the sun on the betrothal, that he may look down with favor on the union. When the wedding-day arrives, the bride hides herself behind a screen while the guests are assembling. When the party is complete, she walks three times round the room, followed by a train of virgins bearing bread and honey. Then the bridegroom enters, removes her veil, kisses her, and they exchange rings. She is now saluted as the “betrothed girl,” and is again led behind the screen, whence she emerges wearing a matron’s cap. The concluding rite is for her to pull off her new husband’s boots, thus promising obedience to him. In this tribe the husband can divorce his wife by merely taking her cap from her head.

Polygamy is practiced by many, though some prefer to take one wife for another as often as inclination prompts them, rather than take charge of several at the same time.

Jealousy is little known among any of the races of Siberia. Modesty is not a female characteristic, nor is chastity very highly prized. If a wife commit adultery, the husband usually exacts a fine from the paramour for invading his rights “without permission.” Their barbarous manners would not induce us to expect any refined modesty. A traveler was introduced to the family of a rich man, the head of a tribe, and upon entering his low-roofed but spacious habitation, found himself in company with five or six women, wives and daughters, all entirely naked, who appeared excessively diverted at being discovered in such a state. The dancing women are as lewd as can possibly be conceived; indeed, obscene postures are the principal features of their entertainments.

A licentious intercourse between unmarried persons is almost universal. With some, religious dissensions are extremely bitter; but profligacy is more powerful, and a woman who would rigidly refuse to eat or drink with a man of some other creed, will prostitute herself to him from sheer lust. Abandoned women reside in all the towns in large numbers, and are scarcely reprobated by other classes. The education of a Siberian girl appears to be simply telling her that marriage is her destiny, and that her husband will require her to be faithful. With this view she forms acquaintances, is seduced by one and yields to another, until her profligacy becomes so notorious that no one will purchase her as a wife, and she follows, as a means of living, the habits she had resorted to for the indulgence of her vicious appetite. It is said that many prostitutes become so from this cause.

ESQUIMAUX.

The Esquimaux require but a very short notice. As a race, they are dirty, poor, and immoral. Dishonesty is a prominent characteristic, especially manifested toward any strangers coming within their reach. The lamented Kane, in his “Arctic Explorations,” mentions the trouble to which he was exposed in guarding his stores from their pilfering propensities; but, after he had administered one or two lessons of chastisement, they abandoned this habit, and became of great assistance to him. He says, “There is a frankness and cordiality in their way of receiving their guests, whatever may be the infirmities of their notions of honesty;”[373] and when he parted from them on his perilous journey south, he remarks, “When trouble came to us and them, and we bent ourselves to their habits; when we looked to them to procure us fresh meat, and they found at our brig shelter during their wild bear-hunts, never were friends more true. Although numberless articles of inestimable value to them have been scattered upon the ice unwatched, they have not stolen a nail.”[374]

The Esquimaux women are not absolute slaves; their duties are almost entirely domestic, and during the winter especially their life is one of ease and pleasure, so far as their notions can comprehend such advantages. Crowded inside a low hut, two or three families together, they spend their time in eating and sleeping alternately, both sexes being perfectly naked, except a small apron worn by the women as a badge of their sex. This nudity arises from the excessive heat of their cabins, which are rendered impervious to the cold outside. Dr. Kane mentions one occasion on which he was a visitor when the thermometer outside stood at 60° below zero, and inside the temperature mounted to 90°, and says, “Bursting into a profuse perspiration, I stripped like the rest, and thus, an honored guest, and in the place of honor, I fell asleep.”[375]

Respecting the morality of the men or the virtue of the women little is known. Parry says that husbands frequently offer their wives to strangers for a very small sum, and also that it is not uncommon for a change of wives to be made for a short time. He adds that in no country is prostitution carried to a greater extent, the departure of the men on an expedition being a signal to their wives to abandon all restraint. Lust rules paramount, and the children are taught to watch outside the hut, lest the husband should return unexpectedly, and find his habitation occupied by a stranger. Their marriage contract is a mere social arrangement, easily dissolved, but this is rarely done, the general custom being for a man to chastise his wife when she displeases him. The usual form of matrimonial discipline consists in forcing her to lead the reindeer while he rides at ease in the sledge. Their laws permit any man to have two wives, and a regal perquisite of the great chief was the privilege of having as many as he could support.[376] These brides were not uncommonly carried off from their parents by force, the ceremonial rite following at the convenience of the parties. Such attempts are sometimes resisted. An aspirant for the favors of the daughter of a chief succeeded in conveying her to his sledge, but the father pursued with such alacrity that the adventurous lover had to abandon the fair one, and made his escape with some difficulty, leaving the equipage as spoils to the victor.[377]

Dr. Kane is of opinion that the services of the Lutheran and Moravian missionaries have produced a beneficial influence on the morals of the people. What may be called their normal religious notions extended only to the recognition of supernatural agencies, and to certain usages by which these could be conciliated. Murder, incest, burial of the living, and infanticide, were not considered crimes, and these have aided exposure and disease (the small-pox has made fearful ravages among them) to thin their numbers, and impress them with the idea that they are so rapidly dying out as to be able to mark their progress toward extinction within one generation.[378] This is more applicable to the northern tribes, removed from the effects of civilization, among whom murder and infanticide still exist, though not to so great an extent as formerly, while in the southern latitudes, where it was formerly unsafe for vessels to touch upon the coast, hospitality is now the universal characteristic; and truth, self-reliance, and manly honest bearing have been inculcated with considerable success, though not enough to render their notions of property accordant with those of civilized nations.[379]

ICELAND.

This country is inhabited by a serious, humble, and quiet people. Isolated from the rest of the world, they remain to this day in an almost primitive condition, and nine centuries have produced little change in their manners, language, or costume. The condition of the sexes is somewhat equal; the men divide their labors with the women, but do not oppress them. Both are alike filthy and coarse in their habits. Their hospitality assumes some singular forms. Women salute a stranger with a cordial embrace, but their dirty habits generally render him anxious to escape from their arms as quickly as possible. A missionary was upon one occasion especially scandalized. He was visiting at the house of a rich man, who treated him liberally, and upon retiring to his room at night was followed by his host’s eldest daughter, who insisted upon helping him to undress and prepare for bed, declaring that it was the invariable custom of the country.

Few absolute laws regulate the intercourse of the sexes. Christianity has abolished polygamy, and public opinion holds a strong check upon illicit intercourse. With the exception of their sea-ports, the people may be called a moral race. The proportion of illegitimate to legitimate children is about one in every seven.

Lord Kames relates an anecdote which would stamp the Icelanders of one hundred and fifty years ago as any thing but moral. He says that in 1707 a contagious distemper had cut off nearly all the people, and, in order to repopulate the country, the King of Denmark issued a proclamation authorizing every single woman to bear six illegitimate children without losing her reputation. Report says the girls were so zealous in this patriotic work that it soon became necessary to abrogate the law.

GREENLAND.

The population of Greenland is partly composed of European colonists and partly of Esquimaux. They are a vain and indolent people, whose virtues consist in the negation of active vice. Their women occupy an inferior position. Marriage is essentially a contract for mutual convenience, dissolved when it ceases to be agreeable. It is considered etiquette for a girl, when any man demands her in marriage, to fly to the hills and hide herself, in order to be dragged home with a great show of violence by her suitor. If courted by a man she dislikes, she cuts off her hair, which is a sign of great horror, and usually rids her of her lover.The Greenlanders consider themselves the only civilized people in the world, and consequently pride themselves on decorum. They do not allow marriages within three degrees of affinity, and consider it disreputable for persons who have been educated in the same house to marry, even if no relationship exists between them. Prostitution prevails to a considerable extent, widows and divorced women almost invariably adopting it as a means of living. There are numerous habitations in the large communities which can only be considered as brothels, but the life of an abandoned woman is generally reprobated, and those following it incur the most undisguised odium of the people at large.