Most of the lower animal species are by instinct either monogamous or polygynous. With man, every possible form of marriage occurs. There are marriages of one man with one woman (monogamy), of one man with many women (polygyny), of many men with one woman (polyandry), and, in a few exceptional cases, of many men with many women.
Polygyny was permitted by most of the ancient peoples with whom history acquaints us, and is, in our day, permitted by several civilized nations and the bulk of savage tribes.
The ancient Chibchas practised polygyny to a large extent.2628 Among the Mexicans2629 and the Peruvian Incas,2630 a married man might have, besides his legitimate wife, less legitimate wives or concubines. The same is the case in China and Japan, where the children of a concubine have the same legal rights as the children of a wife.2631 In Corea, the mandarins are even bound by custom, besides having several wives, to retain several concubines in their “yamen.”2632
Tradition shows polygyny and concubinage to have been customary among the Hebrews during the patriarchal age. Esau married Judith and Basemath, Jacob married Leah and Rachel.2633 Later on, we read of Solomon, who had “seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines;”2634 and of Rehoboam, who “took eighteen wives and threescore concubines.”2635 Indeed, polygyny was so much a matter of course that the law did not even criticize it.2636 According to the Talmudic right also, it was permitted, though the number of legitimate wives was restricted to four.2637 Among European Jews, it was still practised during the Middle Ages, and, among Jews living in Mohammedan countries, it occurs even to this day.2638 The Korân allows a man to take four legitimate wives,2639 and he may take as many concubines as he likes. Between a wife and a concubine the difference is, indeed, not great: the former has her father as her protector, whilst the latter is defenceless against the husband.2640 A slave, on the other hand, is not permitted to have more than two wives at the same time.2641
Diodorus Siculus informs us that the Egyptians were not restricted to any number of wives, but that everyone married as many as he chose, with the exception of the priesthood, who were by law confined to one consort.2642 The Egyptians had concubines also, most of whom appear to have been foreign women—war-captives or slaves; and these were members of the family, ranking next to the wives and children of their lord, and probably enjoying a share of the property after his death.2643 With regard to the Assyrians, Professor Rawlinson states that, so far as we have any real evidence, their kings appear as monogamists; but he thinks it is probable that they had a certain number of concubines.2644 In Media, on the other hand, polygyny was commonly practised among the more wealthy classes;2645 and the Persian kings, particularly in later times, had a considerable number of wives and concubines.2646
None of the Hindu law-books restricts the number of wives whom a man is permitted to marry.2647 We find undoubted cases of polygyny in the hymns of the ‘Rig-Veda,’2648 and several passages in the ‘Laws of Manu’ provide for a plurality of wives without any restriction.2649 Speaking of the modern Hindus, Mr. Balfour says, “By the law a Hindu may marry as many wives, and by custom keep as many concubines, as he may choose.”2650
The Greeks of the Homeric age frequently had concubines, who lived in the same house as the man’s family, and were regarded half as wives.2651 Polygyny, in the fullest sense of the term, appears to be ascribed to Priam, but to no one else.2652 At a later period a kind of concubinage seems to have been recognized in Greece by law, and scarcely proscribed by public opinion;2653 and bigamy was practised by the tyrants in some of the Greek colonies.2654 The Romans were more strictly monogamous. Among them, concubinage was always well distinguished from legal marriage, and, according to Rossbach, was much less common in early times than subsequently.2655
Among the Teutons, at the beginning of their history, we come across plurality of wives in the West,2656 and especially in the North. The Scandinavian kings indulged in polygyny,2657 and it does not seem to have been restricted to them only.2658 Nor was it unknown to the pagan Russians.2659 In the Finnish poems, though polygyny is not mentioned, there are passages which seem to indicate that it was not entirely unheard of among the Finns of early times.2660
Even in the Christian world open polygyny has occasionally been permitted, or at least tolerated. It was frequently practised by the Merovingian kings, and one law of Charles the Great seems to imply that it was not unknown even among priests.2661 Soon after the Peace of Westphalia, bigamy was allowed in some German States where the population had been largely reduced during the Thirty Years’ War. And in modern Europe polygyny, as Mr. Spencer remarks, long survived in the custom which permitted princes to have many mistresses; “polygyny in this qualified form remaining a tolerated privilege of royalty down to late times.”2662 Moreover, St. Augustin said expressly that he did not condemn polygyny;2663 and Luther allowed Philip the Magnanimous of Hessen, for political reasons, to marry two women. Indeed, he openly declared that, as Christ is silent about polygyny, he could not forbid the taking of more than one wife.2664 The Mormons, as all the world knows, regard polygyny as a divine institution.
Among many savage peoples polygyny is developed to an extraordinary extent. In Unyoro, according to Emin Pasha, it would be absolutely improper for even a small chief to have fewer than ten or fifteen wives, and poor men have three or four each.2665 Serpa Pinto tells us of a minister in the Barôze, who at the time of his visit to that country had more than seventy wives.2666 In Fiji, the chiefs had from twenty to a hundred wives;2667 and, among all of the North American tribes visited by Mr. Catlin, “it is no uncommon thing to find a chief with six, eight, or ten, and some with twelve or fourteen wives in his lodge.”2668 The King of Loango is said to have seven thousand wives.2669
It is a more noteworthy fact that among not a few uncivilized peoples, polygyny is almost unknown, or even prohibited. The Wyandots, according to Heriot, restricted themselves to one wife;2670 and, among the Iroquois, polygyny was not permitted, nor did it ever become a practice.2671 It is said that, among the Californian Kinkla and Yurok, no man has more than one wife.2672 The Karok do not allow bigamy even to the chief; and, though a man may own as many women for slaves as he can purchase, he brings obloquy upon himself if he cohabits with more than one.2673 Nor does polygyny occur among the Simas, the Coco-Maricopas, and several other tribes on the banks of the Gila and the Colorado;2674 nor among the Moquis in New Mexico, and certain nations who inhabit the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.2675 And, in several tribes of South America, the men are stated to have but one wife.2676
The Guanches of the Canary Islands, except the inhabitants of Lancerote, lived in monogamy;2677 and the same is the case with the Quissama tribe in Angola, the Touaregs, and the Beni-Mzab.2678 Among all the Moorish tribes in the Western Sahara, Vincent did not meet a single man who had a plurality of wives.2679
In Asia we find many instances of strictly monogamous peoples. The Veddahs in Ceylon are so rigorous in this respect that infidelity never seems to occur among them.2680 In the Andaman Islands, according to Mr. E. H. Man, “bigamy, polygamy, polyandry, and divorce are unknown;”2681 and the Nicobar Islanders—at least those on the most northern island, Car Nicobar—“have but one wife, and look upon unchastity as a very deadly sin.”2682 Among the Koch and Old Kukis, polygyny and concubinage are forbidden;2683 whilst, among the Pádams, Mikris, and Munda Kols, a man, though not expressly forbidden to have many wives, is blamed if he has more than one.2684 The Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills, the Nagas of Upper Assam, the Kisáns, and Meches confine themselves to one consort at the same time;2685 and so do the Mrús and Toungtha, who do not consider it right for a master to take advantage of his position even with regard to the female slaves in his house.2686 Among the Santals, says Mr. E. G. Man, a woman reigns alone in her husband’s wigwam, “as there is seldom, if ever, a second wife or concubine to divide his affections—polygamy, although not exactly prohibited, being not very popular with the tribe.”2687 Among the Karens of Burma,2688 and certain tribes of Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula, and the Indian Archipelago, polygyny is said either to be forbidden2689 or unknown.2690 The Igorrotes of Luzon are so strictly monogamous, that, in case of adultery, the guilty party can be compelled to leave the hut and the family for ever.2691 The Hill Dyaks marry but one wife, and a chief who once broke through this custom lost all his influence; adultery is entirely unknown among them.2692 The Alfura of Minahassa were formerly monogamists, and the occasional occurrence of polygyny in later times, according to Dr. Hickson, was a degeneration from the old customs, brought about perhaps by Mohammedan influence.2693
In Santa Christina or Tauata (Marquesas Islands), monogamy is said to be the exclusive form of marriage.2694 Among the Papuans of Dorey, not only is polygyny forbidden, but concubinage and adultery are unknown.2695 In Australia, Mr. Curr has discovered some truly monogamous tribes. In the Eucla tribe, “none of the men have more than one wife;”2696 among the Karawalla and Tunberri tribes, dwelling on the Lower Diamantina, polygyny is not allowed;2697 and in the Birria tribe, “the possession of more than one wife is absolutely forbidden, or was so before the coming of the whites.”2698
In certain American tribes the chiefs alone are permitted to have a plurality of wives.2699 A similar exclusive privilege seems to have been granted to the nobility in ancient Peru.2700 Among the Ainos of Yessy, according to v. Siebold only the chief of the village, and, in some places, the wealthier men are allowed to have more than one wife.2701
Even where polygyny is permitted by custom or law, it is by no means so generally practised as is often supposed. Almost everywhere it is confined to the smaller part of the people, the vast majority being monogamous. We are told that, in the New Hebrides, “all the men are polygamists, generally having three or four wives apiece;”2702 that among certain Kafir tribes, “the average number of wives to each married man amongst the common people is about three;”2703 that, among the Masai, a poor man has generally two wives.2704 But there is sufficient evidence that such peoples form exceptions to an almost universal rule.
In a ‘Sociological Study’ on the Lower Congo, Mr. Phillips remarks, “It is a mistaken opinion that in a polygamous society most men have more than one wife: the relative numbers of the sexes forbid the arrangement being extended to the whole population; really only the wealthier can indulge in a plurality of wives, the poorer having to be content with one or often with none.”2705 Proyart says the same of the people of Loango, adding that the rich, who can use the privilege of having many wives, are far from being numerous;2706 and like statements are made with reference to several other negro peoples.2707 Among many Kafir tribes,2708 the Bechuanas,2709 Hottentots,2710 and Eastern Central Africans,2711 monogamy is the rule; whilst, amongst the Touaregs,2712 Tedâ,2713 Marea,2714 Beni-Amer,2715 &c.,2716 polygyny is expressly stated to be confined to a few men only. “La plupart des Kabyles,” say Messrs. Honateau and Letournex, “n’ont ... qu’une femme;”2717 and in Egypt, according to Mr. Lane, not more than one husband in twenty has two wives.2718 We may, indeed, say with Munzinger2719 that even in Africa, the chief centre of polygynous habits, polygyny is an exception.
It is so among all Mohammedan peoples, in Asia and Europe, as well as in Africa.2720 “In India,” says Syed Amír’ Alí, “more than ninety-five per cent. of Mohammedans are at the present moment, either by conviction or necessity, monogamists. Among the educated classes versed in the history of their ancestors, and able to compare it with the records of other nations, the custom is regarded with disapprobation amounting almost to disgust. In Persia, according to Colonel Macgregor’s statement, only two per cent. of the population enjoy the questionable luxury of a plurality of wives.2721 Moreover, although polygyny is sanctioned by custom among the Cochin Chinese, the Siamese, the Hindus, and many other races of India, the mass of these peoples are in practice monogamous.2722 In China, among the labouring classes, it is rare to find more than one woman to one man, and Dr. Gray thinks that, in the earliest ages, concubinage was a privilege of the wealthy classes only.2723 Among the peoples of Central and Northern Asia and, generally, among all the uncivilized or semi-civilized peoples belonging to the Russian Empire, polygyny is, or, before the introduction of Christianity, was, an exception.2724
In the Indian Archipelago, says Mr. Crawfurd, polygyny and concubinage exist only among a few of the higher ranks, and may be looked upon as a kind of vicious luxury of the great, for it would be absurd to regard either one or the other as an institution affecting the whole mass of society.2725 The truth of this assertion is fully confirmed by Raffles, as regards the Javanese; by Low and Boyle, as regards the Malays of Sarawak; by Marsden, Wilken, and Forbes as regards the Sumatrans; by Schadenberg, as regards the Aëtas of the Philippines; and so on.2726
In various parts of the Australian continent monogamy is said to be the rule.2727 In the Larrakía tribe (Port Darwin), for instance, only about ten per cent. of those who are married have two wives.2728 In Tasmania, polygyny, if not unknown, was quite exceptional.2729 Among the Maoris, according to Dieffenbach, it is “very uncommon.”2730 In the Sandwich Islands, it was practised only by the chiefs, whose means enabled them to maintain a plurality of wives.2731 Indeed, in almost every group of the Pacific Islands polygyny is expressly stated to be an exception.2732
The same is the case with the American aborigines.2733 Dalager states that, on the west coast of Greenland, in his time, hardly one man in twenty had two wives, and it was still more uncommon for one man to have three or four.2734 Among the Thlinkets, as a rule, a man had but one wife.2735 The aborigines of Hispaniola, with the exception of the king or chief, seemed to Columbus to live in monogamy.2736 And Mr. Bridges writes that, in Tierra del Fuego, polygyny is practised “in some districts very rarely, in others more frequently, but in no part generally.”
All the statements we have from the ancient world seem to indicate that polygyny was an exception. Speaking of the Hebrews, Dr. Scheppig says that, although our information about the marital affairs of common Hebrews is too scanty to entitle us to conclude, from the scarcity of cases of polygyny recorded, that such cases were actually rare, we may assume that keeping up several establishments was too expensive for any but the rich.2737 In Egypt, as we may infer from the numerous ancient paintings illustrative of domestic life in that country, polygyny was of rare occurrence; and Herodotus expressly affirms that it was customary for the Egyptians to marry only one wife.”2738 Spiegel thinks that the ancient Persians were as a rule monogamous,2739 and Sir Henry Maine and Dr. Schrader make a similar suggestion as to the early Indo-Europeans in general.2740 Among the West Germans, according to Tacitus, only a few persons of noble birth had a plurality of wives;2741 and, in India, polygyny as a rule was confined to kings and wealthy lords.2742 In a hymn of the ‘Rig-Veda,’ which dwells upon the duality of the two Aświns, the pairs of deities are compared with pairs of almost everything that runs in couples, including a husband and wife, and two lips uttering sweet sounds.2743
Where polygyny occurs, it is modified, as a rule, in ways that tend towards monogamy: first, through the higher position granted to one of the wives, generally the first married; secondly, through the preference given by the husband to his favourite wife as regards sexual intercourse.
Among the Greenlanders,2744 Thlinkets,2745 Kaniagmuts,2746 Crees,2747 and probably most of the North American tribes who practise polygyny,2748 the first married wife is the mistress of the house. The Aleuts distinguish the first or real wife from the subsequent wives by a special name.2749 Among the Ahts, the children of a chief’s extra wives have not the father’s rank.2750 The Algonquins, says Heriot, permit two wives to one husband, but “the one is considered of a rank superior to the other, and her children alone are accounted legitimate.”2751 Among the Mexicans,2752 Mayas,2753 Chibchas,2754 and Peruvians,2755 the first wife took precedence of the subsequent wives, or, strictly speaking, they had only one “true and lawful wife,” though as many concubines as they liked. In Nicaragua, bigamy, in the juridical sense of the term, was punished by exile and confiscation of property;2756 and, in Mexico, neither the wives of “second rank” nor their children could inherit property.2757 Among the Mosquitoes, Tamanacs, Uaupés, Mundrucûs,2758 and other South American peoples,2759 the first wife generally has superiority in domestic affairs. Among the Brazilian aborigines, however, no difference in rights exist between the children of different wives.2760
The first wife is superior in authority to the others among the Western Victorians, Narrinyeri, Maoris,2761 &c.2762 In Samoa, a chief had, besides his wife, one, two, or three concubines;2763 and in Tahiti, according to Ellis, it was rather a system of concubinage than a plurality of wives, that prevailed among the higher chiefs, the woman to whom the chief was first united in marriage, or whose rank was nearest his own, being generally considered his wife in the proper sense of the term, while the others held an inferior position.2764
In the Indian Archipelago, according to Mr. Crawfurd, the wife of the first marriage is always the real mistress of the family; the rest are often little better than her hand-maids.2765 The same holds good for the Burmese, according to Lieutenant-General Fytche; for the Santals, according to Colonel Dalton.2766 In Siam, “the wife who has been the object of the marriage ceremony ‘khan mak’ takes precedence of all the rest, and she and her descendants are the only legal heirs to the husband’s possessions.”2767 Among the Khamtis, Samoyedes,2768 and other Asiatic peoples,2769 the first wife is always the mistress of the household and the most respected in the family; whilst, among the Ainos,2770 Mongols, and Tangutans,2771 one man can take only one lawful wife, though as many concubines as he pleases. But, except among the Ainos, the children of concubines are illegitimate and have no share in the inheritance.
The polygyny of China is a legalized concubinage, and the law actually prohibits the taking of a second wife during the lifetime of the first.2772 The wife is invested with a certain amount of power over the concubines, who may not even sit in her presence without special permission.2773 She addresses her partner with a term corresponding to our “husband,” whilst the concubines call him “master.”2774 These are generally women with large feet and of low origin, not unfrequently slaves or prostitutes; whereas the wife is almost invariably, except of course in the case of Tartar ladies, a woman with small feet.2775 A wife cannot be degraded to the position of a concubine, nor can a concubine be raised to the position of a wife so long as the wife is alive, under a penalty in the one case of a hundred, in the other of ninety blows.2776 But the question upon which the legitimacy of the offspring depends, is not whether the woman is wife or concubine, but whether she has been received into the house of the man or not.2777 In Mohammedan countries, in households where two or more wives belong to one man, the first married generally enjoys the highest rank; she is called “the great lady,” and is commonly united with her husband for life. But all the children of the man are considered equally legitimate, even those born of female slaves.2778
Among the negro peoples, the principal wife, to whom the housekeeping and command over all the rest are intrusted, is in most cases the one first married. She has certain privileges, and in many cases can be repudiated only if she has been unfaithful to her husband.2779 Among the Edeeyahs of Fernando Po, it was for the first wife alone that a man had to serve several years with his father-in-law.2780 Speaking of the Eastern Central African tribes, Mr. Macdonald says, “As a rule, a man has one wife that is free, while the other three or four are slaves.... The chief wife is generally the woman that was married first.... The chief wife has the superintendence of the domestic and agricultural establishment. She keeps the others at their work, and has power to exercise discipline upon them.” Generally, it is only by inheriting the possessions of an elder brother that a man procures more than one free wife.2781 Among the Damaras and other South African tribes, the eldest son of the principal or first wife inherits his father’s property.2782 Speaking of the Basutos, Mr. Casalis observes, “A very marked distinction exists between the first wife and those who succeed her. The choice of the ‘great’ wife (as she is always called) is generally made by the father, and is an event in which all the relations are interested. The others, who are designated by the name of ‘serete’ (heels), because they must on all occasions hold an inferior position to the mistress of the house, are articles of luxury, to which the parents are not obliged to contribute.” The chief of the Basutos, when asked by foreigners how many children he has, alludes in his answer only to those of his first wife; and, if he says he is a widower, this means that he has lost his real wife, and has not raised any of his concubines to the rank she occupied.2783 Among the Zulus, the chief wife is the one first married,2784 and this is often, but not always, the case among the Kafirs.2785 According to Rochon, polygyny in Madagascar is, in fact, a sort of concubinage.2786
Eber suggests that the kings of ancient Egypt, although they might have many concubines, had only one real wife, as there is no instance of two consorts given in the inscriptions.2787 Professor Rawlinson makes a similar remark as to the polygyny of the Persian kings.2788 Regarding the Hindus, Mr. Mayne says, “A peculiar sanctity ... seems to have been attributed to the first marriage, as being that which was contracted from a sense of duty, and not merely for personal gratification. The first married wife had precedence over the others, and her first-born son over his half-brothers. It is probable that originally the secondary wives were considered as merely a superior class of concubines, like the hand-maids of the Jewish patriarchs.”2789 It was necessary that the first married wife should be of the same caste as her husband.2790 She sat by him at marriages and other religious ceremonies, was head of the family, and entitled to adopt a son if she had no sons at the time of her husband’s death.2791 The modified polygyny of the ancient Assyrians and Greeks has been already noted. The ancient Scandinavians had almost always only one legitimate wife, though as many concubines as they chose.2792 Touching the Pagan Russians, Ewers says that of the wives of a prince one probably had precedence.2793 Among the Mormons, Sir R. F. Burton observes, “the first wife, as among polygamists generally, is the wife and assumes the husband’s name and title.”2794
The difference in the position held by the several wives belonging to one man, shows itself also in the demand of various peoples that the first wife shall be of the husband’s rank, whilst the succeeding wives may be of lower birth.2795
As just mentioned, there is another way in which polygyny is modified. Among certain peoples the husband is bound by custom or law to cohabit with his wives in turn. The Caribs, when they married several sisters at the same time, lived a month with each in her separate hut.2796 Among the wild Indians of Chili, according to Mr. Darwin, the cazique lives a week in turn with each of his wives.2797 The Kafirs have an old traditional law requiring a husband who has many wives to devote three succeeding days and nights to each of them.2798 A Mohammedan is obliged to visit his four legal wives by turns;2799 and the same custom prevails, according to Krasheninnikoff, in Kamchatka.2800 The negroes often follow a like rule in order to keep peace in the family.2801 And, in Samoa, the system adopted when a person has several wives, “is to allow each wife to enjoy three days’ supremacy in rotation.”2802 But such arrangements are, no doubt, exceptions, and it is doubtful whether, in these cases, theory and practice coincide.2803 A marriage may, in fact, be monogamous, though, from a juridical point of view, it is polygynous.
“It is not uncommon for an Indian,” says Carver, “although he takes to himself so many wives, to live in a state of continence with many of them for several years,” and those who do not succeed in pleasing the husband may “continue in their virgin state during the whole of their lives.”2804 Among the Apaches, the chiefs “can have any number of wives they choose, but one only is the favourite.”2805 In Bokhara, a rich man generally has two, three, or four wives; yet, according to Georgi, one of them, as a rule, holds precedence in the husband’s love.2806 Speaking of the modern Egyptians, Mr. Lane says, “In general, the most beautiful of a man’s wives or slaves is, of course, for a time his greatest favourite; but in many—if not most—cases, the lasting favourite is not the most handsome.”2807 Sometimes the wife who has proved most fruitful and given birth to the healthiest children is most favoured by the husband;2808 and, among the Indians of Western Washington and North-Western Oregon, according to Dr. Gibbs, the man usually lives with his first wife, at least after his interest in subsequent wives has cooled down.2809 But it is generally the youngest wife who is the favourite. An Arabian Sheik said to Sir S. W. Baker, “I have four wives; as one has become old, I have replaced her with a young one; here they all are (he now marked four strokes upon the sand with his stick). This one carries water; that grinds the corn; this makes the bread; the last does not do much, as she is the youngest, and my favourite.”2810 In Guiana, “an Indian is never seen with two young wives; the only case in which he takes a second is when the first has become old.” The first wife certainly retains the management of domestic affairs, but she no longer possesses the husband’s love.2811 Statements to a similar effect are made regarding the Arabs of the Sahara, Tahitians, Central Asiatic Turks, Mormons, &c.2812
Bigamy is the most common form of polygyny, and a multitude of wives is the luxury of a few despotic rulers or very wealthy men. The Eskimo, for example, have rarely more than two wives, and a Greenlander who took a third or fourth was blamed by his countrymen, as we are told by Cranz.2813 The tribes of Oregon generally confine themselves to a couple of wives.2814 Bishop Salvado never knew a West Australian native with more than two—“à moins peut-être que par générosité un homme ne prenne sous sa protection la femme de son ami ou parent absent; ou bien que par voie d’hérédité il n’adopte les veuves de son frère.”2815 Rich Kafirs are stated to have commonly two or three wives;2816 and Colonel Dalton does not recollect that, among the Khamtis, he ever met with a case in which more than two women were married to one husband.2817 The Hebrews who indulged in polygyny were generally bigamists.2818
Polyandry is a much rarer form of marriage than polygyny. In Oonalashka, one of the Aleutian Islands, according to v. Langsdorf, a woman sometimes lived with two husbands who agreed between themselves upon the conditions on which they were to share her.2819 Among the Kaniagmuts, two or three men occasionally had a wife in common;2820 and Veniaminoff tells us that in ancient times a Thlinket woman, besides her real husband, could have a legal paramour, who usually was the brother of the husband.2821 Among the Eskimo also, “two men sometimes marry the same woman.”2822 Father Lafitau writes, “Par une suite de la Gynécocratie, la polygamie, qui n’est pas permise aux hommes, l’est pourtant aux femmes chez les Iroquois Tsonnontouans, où il en est, lesquelles ont deux maris, qu’on regarde comme légitimes.”2823 Among the Avanos and Maypurs, along the Orinoco, v. Humboldt found that brothers often had but one wife;2824 according to Mr. Brett, the Warraus do not consider the practice of one woman having two husbands to be bad; and he mentions an instance of a woman amongst them having even three.2825
In Nukahiva, as we are told by Lisiansky, in rich families every woman had two husbands, of whom one might be called the assistant husband.2826 In New Caledonia, according to M. Moncelon, polyandry does not seem to have been entirely unknown;2827 and Mr. Radfield writes to me from Lifu that an old man knew of three cases of polyandrous marriage having occurred in that island, but the husbands were despised by the rest of the natives. In two of these cases the husbands were brothers, in the third they were unrelated. It is said that, among the Tasmanians, “polyandry, or something very like it, existed;”2828 but this statement, if correct, refers to altogether exceptional cases.
Bontier and Le Verrier assert that, in the island of Lancerote, of the Canaries, most women had three husbands.2829 Thunberg observes that, among the Hottentots, there were women who married two men.2830 Dr. Fritsch mentions the existence of polyandry among the Damaras, and Mr. Theal among the mountain tribes of the Bantu race.2831 The Hovas of Madagascar have a word to express the leave given to a wife to have intercourse with another man during a husband’s prolonged absence from home.2832
Until prohibited by the governor, Sir Henry Ward, about the year 1860, polyandry prevailed among the Sinhalese throughout the interior of Ceylon, one woman having in many cases three or four husbands, and in others five or six or even seven. It is recorded that the same practice was at one time universal throughout the island, except among the Veddahs,2833 and even now it occurs in spite of government interdict.2834 The husbands are usually members of the same family, and most frequently brothers.
Among the Todas, all brothers of one family, be they many or few, live in mixed cohabitation with one or more wives. “If there be four or five brothers,” says Dr. Shortt, “and one of them, being old enough, gets married, his wife claims all the other brothers as her husbands, and, as they successively attain manhood, she consorts with them; or, if the wife has one or more younger sisters, they in turn, on attaining a marriageable age, become the wives of their sister’s husband or husbands.... Owing, however, to the great scarcity of women in this tribe, it more frequently happens that a single woman is wife to several husbands, sometimes as many as six.”2835 The same practice occurs among the Kurgs of Mysore.2836 Among the Nairs of Malabar, it is the custom for one woman “to have attached to her two males, or four, or perhaps more, and they cohabit according to rules.”2837 Polyandry is also found among the Miris, Dophlas, Butlas,2838 Sissee Abors,2839 Khasias,2840 and Santals.2841 It prevails in the Siwalik mountains, Sirmore,2842 Ladakh,2843 the Jounsar and Bawar hill districts attached to the Doon,2844 Kunawar,2845 Kotegarh,2846 and, especially, in Tibet. This custom exists, as Mr. Wilson asserts, “all over the country of the Tibetan-speaking people; that is to say, from China to the dependencies of Kashmir and Afghanistan, with the exception of Sikkim, and some other of the provinces on the Indian side of the Himalaya, where, though the Tibetan language may in part prevail, yet the people are either Aryan in race, or have been much influenced by Aryan ideas.”2847 Polyandry is said to occur among the Saporogian Cossacks;2848 and Mr. Ravenstein quotes a statement of a Japanese traveller that it prevails among the Smerenkur Gilyaks in Eastern Siberia.2849
With the exception of the Nairs, Khasias, and Saporogian Cossacks, the husbands in almost every one of these cases are stated to be brothers. A colonel who lived among the Kulus of Kotegarh for twenty-five years assures us that, among that people, the husbands are always brothers;2850 and, so far as Mr. Wilson could learn, the polyandry of Central Asia must be limited to the marriage of one woman to two or more brothers, no other form being found there.2851
A very curious kind of polyandry prevails, according to Dr. Shortt, among the Reddies. It often happens that a young woman of sixteen or twenty years of age is married to a boy of five or six years, or even of a tenderer age. After marriage the wife lives with some other man, a near relation on the maternal side, frequently an uncle, and sometimes with her boy-husband’s own father, the progeny so begotten being affiliated to the boy-husband. When he comes of age he finds his wife an old woman, and perhaps past child-bearing. So he, in his turn, takes possession of the wife of some other boy, who will nominally be the father of her children.2852 A similar custom is said to exist among the Vellalah caste in the Coimbore district,2853 and prevailed, till the emancipation of the serfs, among the Russian peasants, the father being in the habit of cohabiting with the wife of his son during the son’s minority.2854 Ahlqvist mentions the occurrence of the same practice among the Ostyaks,2855 v. Haxthausen among the Ossetes.2856
Passing to ancient nations, we find indications of polyandry in a hymn in the ‘Rig-Veda,’ which is addressed to the two Aświns,2857, and in the Mahâbhârata, where Draupadi is represented as won at an archery match by the eldest of the five Pandava princes, and as then becoming the wife of all. According to Strabo, polyandry occurred in Media, and in Arabia Felix, where all male members of the same family married one woman.2858 Ma-touan-lin states that, among the Massagetæ, the brothers had one wife in common, and when a man had no brothers he associated with other men, as otherwise he was obliged to live single through the whole of his life.2859 We have in the Irish Nennius direct evidence of the existence of polyandry among the Picts,2860 and of the ancient Britons Cæsar says that “by tens and by twelves husbands possessed their wives in common, and especially brothers with brothers, and parents with children.”2861 Among the ancient Scandinavians we possibly find a trace of this custom in the mythic statement that the goddess Frigg, during the absence of her husband Odin, was married to his brothers Vili and Ve.2862
Among the peoples of America, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, just referred to, polyandry, in almost every case, is confined to a very small part of the population; and among the polyandrous nations of India and Central Asia it is by no means the exclusive form of marriage. Sir Emerson Tennent says that, in Ceylon, polyandry prevails chiefly among the wealthier classes, whilst, according to Dr. Davy, it is “more or less general among the high and low, the rich and poor,” other forms of marriage, however, being by no means excluded.2863 Among the Todas, “any degree of complication in perfectly lawful wedded life may be met with, from the sample of the single man living with the single wife, to that of the group of relatives married to a group of wives.”2864 Mr. Balfour says that “the practice of polyandry does not seem to have ever prevailed generally amongst the Nairs and many of the Teeyer of North Malabar, from Kurumbranad to Mangalore.”2865 Among the Miris there are only a few instances of this custom.2866 Of the Dophlas those who can afford it are polygynists.2867 Among the Khasias, polyandry “can be said to prevail only among the poorer sort, with whom, too, it would often seem to mean rather facility of divorce than the simultaneous admission of a plurality of husbands.”2868 Among the Santals, the wife of the eldest brother may be at the same time a wife for the younger brothers also.2869 The Sissee Abors have often as many wives as they can afford to buy;2870 and in the Kunawar valley, polyandry is common only in the upper part of the valley, whilst polygyny prevails in the lower part.2871 In the Kotegarh valley, according to Dr. Stulpnagel, the practice of polyandry is not universal; it can scarcely be said to be even very common. “If diligently searched for,” he observes, “single cases of polyandry will be found in the Kôtgadh parganâ, in Kulu, in the territory of the Rânâs of Komarsen and Kaneti, and in Bussahir.... Though common enough in Kunawar at the present day, it exists side by side with polygamy and monogamy. In one house there may be three brothers with one wife; in the next three brothers with four wives, all alike in common; in the next house there may be a man with three wives to himself; in the next a man with only one wife.”2872 Among the Butias, or Botis, of Ladakh, according to Sir Alexander Cunningham, polyandry prevails “only among the poorer classes, for the rich, as in all Eastern countries, generally have two or three wives, according to their circumstances.”2873 In the Jounsar and Bawah pargannahs, polyandry is almost universal, but it is apparently unknown in the hills of Garhwal on the east, or those of the Simla superintendency on the west.2874 Nowhere, except perhaps in the Neilgherry Hills, has polyandry prevailed more extensively than in Tibet; but it is not the only form of marriage. According to Captain J. D. Cunningham, “even among the Lamaic Tibetans any casual influx of wealth, as from trade or other sources, immediately leads to the formation of separate establishments by the several members of a house.”2875 We may thus take for granted that polyandry, although frequently practised in certain parts of India and Central Asia,2876 nowhere excludes the simultaneous occurrence of other forms of marriage. The instances of ancient Aryan polyandry in India evidently form exceptions to the general rule among the people of the Vedic period. The father of Draupadi is represented by the compilers of the epic as shocked at the proposal of the princes to marry his daughter:—“You who know the law,” he says, “must not commit an unlawful act which is contrary to usage and the Vedas.” In the Râmâyana, the giant Virâdha attacks the two divine brothers Râma and Lakshmana and their wife Sítâ, saying, “Why do you two devotees remain with one woman? Why are you, O profligate wretches, corrupting the devout sages?”2877 And in the ‘Aitareya Brâhmana’ we read that “one man has many wives, but one wife has not many husbands at the same time.”2878 Indeed, with the exception of the Massagetæ, the account of whom cannot be critically checked, there is no people among whom polyandry is stated to be the only recognized form of marriage.