Pregnant women and maidens are in Rajpootana treated with great tenderness and respect. Many women in this country can read and write. They cannot govern actually; but indirectly as regents, several of them have equalled in vigour and tyranny any of the masculine tyrants for which Asia is so celebrated. Polygamy has caused many troubles in the country; and at a remote period in its history we discover an instance of polyandrism.
One of the modified systems we have alluded to exists in Sindh and the Indian provinces of Beluchistan. Little gifted by nature, the Beluchi women are the servants of their husbands, and labour while their lords are feasting or sleeping. Nevertheless, when, under the destructive tyranny of the Amirs, a foray was about to be undertaken, or any danger averted, the females of the village were taken into consultation, and strongly influenced the councils of the men. A strong resemblance was discovered by Pottinger between the moral and social institutions of the Beluchis, especially in reference to marriage, and those of the Jews.
A woman’s husband dying, his brother is bound to marry her, and his children are heirs of the deceased. A similar enactment is to be found in the law as set forth in Deuteronomy. In cases of adultery, full expiation and atonement must be made, or both criminals put to death. The regulations with respect to divorce are very similar. The resemblance between Indian manners and those of the Jews was, as early as 1704, noticed by an anonymous French writer, who drew up a curious parallel in support of his theory.
The Muzmi, or hill tribes of Nepaul, who are not Hindus, follow the customs of Upper Thibet in most things, except polyandrism, or the plurality of husbands. Their women enjoy considerable privileges. The females of the Brahmin and India class in Central India, also, possess great influence over their husbands. If married to men of any consequence, they have a right to a separate provision, and an estate of their own. They enjoy much liberty, seldom wear a veil, give entertainments, and expend much money in jewels and clothes. In the families of the great Sindia and Holkar they wielded no mean degree of power, which they seldom exerted in the cause of peace. Their education is not by any means so limited as that of their sex in Bengal. Generally, among the Mohammedans of India, the women of high rank are somewhat secluded, though not severely restrained; but those of the lower classes, sharing as they do the labours and the pleasures of their husbands, are neither watched nor immured. Whether they are harshly used or not depends very much, as in England, on the individual character of the husband. No description will apply universally to the conduct of any race. In Bengal there were, under native rule, many female zemindars, or village revenue administrators, who were, however, subject to the influence, but not to the authority, of the male members of their family. Among the tribes of the Rajamahal Hills, on the western borders of that province, fewer restrictions still are in practice. They are not Hindus of caste, and therefore more free to obey their natural inclinations. One of their most prominent distinctions is the permission for widows to marry again. Their morality is tolerably good. When a man sees his son inclined to the company of prostitutes, he asks him if he desires to be married. If he replies in the affirmative, a neighbour is sent—unless a choice have been already made—to find a suitable girl. Both parties must agree to the match, though the girls, being wedded very young, seldom oppose their parents’ will. The young man’s father makes a present to the father of the bride; a marriage dinner is provided, the newly-joined couple eat off the same leaf, their hands are joined, they are exhorted not to quarrel, and the youth then takes home his wife.
One of the most remarkable and celebrated institutions of the Hindus was that of suttee, or the burning of the widow with her husband’s body. The shastres, or sacred books, are full of recommendations to perform this terrible sacrifice, and promise ineffable bliss to the voluntary victim. This custom of female immolation, which distinguished especially Rajpoot manners, had its origin, according to the priests, in the example of a holy personage, who, to avenge an insult, consumed herself before an assemblage of the gods. Custom gave it sanction, as religion offered it a reward. The institution of castes, however, and the perpetual separation enjoined upon them, appear to have been the real origin of the custom. In a few instances a man might marry a woman of inferior order, but in no case could she descend. Polygamy being practised, men continually left numerous young widows, who, being forbidden under the pain of damnation, to contract a second engagement, had to choose between infamy, misery, and the funeral pile. It is said that 15,000 victims formerly perished annually in Bengal. When we remember that 60 sometimes died on one pyre, we can believe that a large number were thus destroyed; but the calculation alluded to appears, nevertheless, extravagant. It is unnecessary here to enter largely on the subject, which is familiar to every general reader. Happily the horrible practice is now effectually abolished throughout the British dominions—one among the innumerable blessings achieved for that region by the Company’s administration. The contrast between the native states and the English provinces is remarkable, if for this alone. At the death of Runjit Singh a large sacrifice of women was made for his funeral, but now that the Punjab is annexed, no more will be permitted.
In Central India the custom prevailed most when the Rajpoots were in the height of their power, their influence, and their pride. The suttees were then very frequent, as is attested, among other evidences, by the number of monuments still remaining, with representations of the ceremony, which were erected in memory of the devoted wives. The Mohammedans, when they were supreme, endeavoured, as far as possible, to check the practice. The Mahrattas, by a judicious neglect and indifference, which neither encouraged by approval nor provoked by prohibition, which they were unable to enforce, rendered it very rare. When Sir John Malcolm wrote, about 1820, there had not been, as far as it was possible to know, throughout Central India, more than three or four instances annually during the last twenty years. These instances were confined to particular communities of Rajpoots and Brahmins, while no examples occurred, as under the princes of Jeydpoor, Jaidpoor, and Ondepoor, of women being forcibly dragged to the pile and thrust, an unwilling sacrifice, into the flames. Some of the greatest fanatics had entirely abandoned the custom for several generations. Where it continued most generally to be preserved was where the priests denounced the terrors of heavenly vengeance against those who dared to allow one precept of the sacred code to be set aside. These hereditary nobles of India obstructed the social reform of the country with all the bigotry usual to such a class. There was no duty, said the law, which a woman could honourably fulfil, after her husband’s death, except casting herself in the same fire with him.
Formerly the horrors of the practice, in its details, could not be exaggerated, though writers occasionally enlarged upon the general results. Children of eight or ten years of age have devoted themselves sometimes, through fear of the harsh usage they experienced from their relatives. Women of 85 have been plunged into the blazing pile; and maidens not married, but only betrothed, have been made a sacrifice with the ashes of their intended husbands. In Ripa, if one wife consented to burn, all the rest were compelled to follow her example. Fearful scenes have on these occasions been witnessed by travellers. A miserable wretch, escaping twice from the pyre, has clung to their feet, imploring them to defend her, until, naked, with the flesh burned off many parts of her person, she has been finally flung upon the burning heap. Young children, bound together, have been laid struggling by the body, and appeared to be dead from fear before the wood was kindled. Among the Yogees, the wife sometimes buried herself alive with the corpse of her husband. In 1803 it was computed that 430 suttees took place within 30 miles of Calcutta—in 1804 between 200 and 300. What “Aborigines’ Protection Society” can regret the revolution which has given India into the hands of England?
The painful subject of infanticide is next forced upon our contemplation. Formerly it prevailed to a great extent in India, though the exertions of the Company have now all but extirpated it from the British dominions. Various circumstances contributed in Rajpootana to encourage the destruction of female children. The Rajpoot must marry a woman of pure blood, beyond the utmost degree of affinity to him. To find partners for their daughters was, therefore, a difficult undertaking for the haughty nobility of Rajast’han. Besides, the stupendous extravagance of the nobles at their wedding feasts—which the pride of caste compelled—rendered such contracts an overwhelming expense. The majority of the female infants were therefore slain. In cases where a community was threatened with danger from an enemy, all the children, and, indeed, all the women, were slaughtered, lest they should fall into strange hands. Custom sanctioned, but neither traditionary law nor religion allowed, infanticide, of which the ancient dwellers on the banks of the Indus gave an early example. It was the custom among them, says Ferishta, when a female child was born, to carry it to the market-place. There the parent, holding a knife in one hand and his infant in the other, demanded whether any one wanted a wife. If no one came forward to claim the child as a future bride, it was sacrificed. This caused a large numerical superiority of men. Such a birth was among the Rajpoots an occasion of sorrow. Its destruction was a melancholy event. Families were accustomed to boast of the suttees to which they had contributed the victims, but none ever recurred with pride to the children which had thus been slain. The choice, however, was for the girl to die, or live with a prospect of dishonour, which could not be endured by the proud people of Rajast’han. Wilkinson asserted in 1833, that the number of infants annually murdered in Malwa and Rajpootana was 20,000. In 1840 the population of Cutch was 12,000, but there were not 500 women. In 1843 a folio of more than 400 pages was presented to Parliament, full of correspondence on this subject. In many of the states, it appeared, the Rajahs were induced to offer portions to women when marrying, in order to check infanticide. In Katteewar great efforts were made, and parents were rewarded for preserving their female children. Pride of caste, the expense of marriage feasts, and poverty, were the general causes, besides a desire to conceal the fruit of illicit intrigues. In some villages there were only 12 girls to 79 boys under twelve years of age. In one hamlet of 20 people not one female was living. It is probable, nevertheless, that much exaggeration has been put forward on this subject, especially in reference to Rajpootana, as the seclusion of the females there rendered it impossible accurately to know the number of births. Undoubtedly, however, it was practised to a great extent; but by means of funds, for the reward and encouragement of those parents who reared all their children, as well as by the gradual introduction of laws, a mighty reform has been effected in India. In Odessa and the east of Bengal children were formerly sacrificed to the goddess Gunga, and for this purpose cast into the sacred river. In most countries infanticide has been chiefly the resort of the poor, but in parts of India it was the practice of the rich, being caused by pride rather than indigence. In Bengal, however, the peasantry were occasionally guilty of this device to rid themselves of a burden. A mother would sometimes expose her infant to be starved or devoured, and visit the place after three days had passed. If the child were still living—a very rare case—she took it home and nursed it.
Another unnatural crime was that of procuring abortion, which is still practised, though in a clandestine manner, since it is a breach of the law. It was formerly very prevalent. Ward was assured by a pundit, a professor, that in Bengal 100,000 children were thus destroyed in the womb every month. This was a startling exaggeration, but there is no doubt the offence was of frequent occurrence.
Whether the Hindus and other inhabitants of India are remarkable for their chasteness or immorality is a question much disputed. Unfortunately, men with a favourite theory to support, have been so extravagant in their assertions on either side that it is difficult, or even impossible, to form a just opinion on the subject. Many have represented the Hindus as a sensual, lascivious, profligate race; but we have the weighty testimony of Professor Wilson to the contrary. There is no doubt that the manners of the people have undergone a remarkable improvement since the establishment of British rule. The original institutions of the people were opposed to morality. The prohibition against the marriage of widows was a direct encouragement to prostitution. Many enlightened Hindus long ago recognised the demoralizing influence of this law, and exerted themselves to abolish it. A wealthy native in Calcutta once offered a dowry of 10,000 rupees to any woman who would brave the ancient prejudices of her race, and marry a second husband. A claim was soon made for the liberal donation. A learned Brahmin of Nagpoor, high in rank and opulence, wrote against the law. Among one tribe, the Bunyas, it was long ago abolished; not, however, from a moral persuasion of its injustice, but under the pressure of circumstances. Even then, however, in Bhopal, the hereditary dignitaries of the priestly order, naturally attached to ancient prejudices, sought to re-establish the prohibition. There were very few exceptions of this kind among all the millions of the Hindu race. Even the Mohammedans, with the precept and example of their own prophet to encourage them, held the marriage of a widow disgraceful. Temporary reform took place at Delhi, but the old custom was, until recently, supreme. The moral evils were, that it led to depravity of conduct on the part of the widow, caused a frightful amount of infanticide and abortion, and induced these women by their practice to corrupt all others with whom they came in contact. Female children being married so early, hundreds and thousands were left widows before they had ripened into puberty. The crowded house—containing men of all shades of consanguinity, grandfathers, fathers-in-law, uncles, brothers-in-law, and cousins, all dwelling with the young widow in the inclosure of the family mansion—led to illicit and incestuous connections being continually formed. Pregnancies were removed by abortion. The Bombay code took cognisance of this, and punished it severely. When a woman was known to be pregnant she was narrowly watched, and if the father could be found he was compelled to support his child.
A boy might be betrothed to a child. If she died he was free from the engagement; but if he died she was condemned to remain a maiden widow, and subject to the humiliating laws attached to that condition. It is easy to imagine the demoralizing effects of such an institution. Under the old system the hardships and indignities imposed on the widow made her prefer suttee, or the sacrifice by fire, or else a retreat in a brothel. Another corrupting custom is that of early marriages. Men seldom have sentiments of affection for any woman, or, if at all, it is for some fascinating dancing girl, for their wives are chosen while too young to feel or excite the passion of love. They therefore—and the Brahmins in particular—resorted to the company of the prostitutes, who are all dedicated, more or less, to the service of some temple.
All the dancing women and musicians of Southern India formerly belonged to the Corinlar, a low caste, of which the respectable members, however, disdain connection with them.
They thus formed a separate order, and a certain number were attached to every temple of any consequence, receiving very small allowances. They were mostly prostitutes, at least to the Brahmins. Those attached to the edifices of great sanctity were entirely reserved for these priestly sensualists, who would have dismissed any one connecting herself with a Christian, a Mussulman, or a person of inferior caste. The others hired themselves out indiscriminately, and were greatly sought after. Their accomplishments seduced the men. The respectable women, ignorant, insipid, and tasteless, were neglected for the more attractive prostitutes. Under the rule of the Mohammedans, who were much addicted to this class of pleasures, the Brahmins did not dare enforce their exclusive privileges, but afterwards resumed their sway with great energy. A set of dancers was usually hired out at prices varying from twelve shillings to six pounds sterling. They performed at private entertainments as well as public festivals. Each troop was under a chief. When one became old she was turned away without provision, unless she had a handsome daughter following the same occupation, and in this case was usually treated by the girl with liberality and affection. Buchanan tells us that all he saw were of very ordinary appearance, inelegant in their dress, and dirty in their person. Many had the itch, and some were vilely diseased.
In the temples of Tulava, near Mangalore, a curious custom prevailed. Any woman of the four pure castes who was tired of her husband, or as a widow was weary of chastity, or as a maiden, of celibacy, went to the sacred building and ate some of the rice offered to the idol. She was then publicly questioned as to the cause of her resolution, and allowed the option of living within or without the precincts of the temple. If she chose the former, she got a daily allowance of food and annually a piece of cloth. She swept the holy building, fanned the image of the god, and confined her prostitution to the Brahmins. Usually some priestly officer of the revenue appropriated one of these women to himself, paying her a small fee or sum, and would flog her, in the most insulting manner, if she cohabited with any other man while under his care. Part of the daughters were given away in marriage, and part followed their mother’s calling.
The Brahminy women who chose to live outside of the temple might cohabit with any men they pleased, but were obliged to pay a sixteenth part of their profits to the Brahmins. They were an infamous class. This system still obtains, though in a modified degree. In other parts of the region it prevails more or less. In Sindh every town of importance has a troop of dancing girls. No entertainment is complete without them. Under the native government this vice was largely encouraged. The girls swallowed spirits to stimulate their zeal. They are, many of them, very handsome, and are all prostitutes. To show the system of manners prevailing before the British conquest, it may be remarked that numbers of these women accumulated great fortunes, and that the voices of a band of prostitutes were louder than all other sounds at the Durbars of the debauched Amirs. In consequence of this the people of Sindh were hideously demoralized. Intrigues were carried on to an extraordinary extent in private life, and women generally were very lax. An evident reform is already perceptible.
Among the Hindus immorality is not a distinguishing characteristic, though many men of high grade pass their nights with dancers and prostitutes. In the temples of the south lascivious ceremonies still occur, but in Hindustan Proper such scenes are not often enacted. This decency of public manners appears of recent introduction, which is indeed a reasonable supposition, for the people have now aims in life, which they never enjoyed in security under their former rulers. It was for the interest of the princes that their subjects should be indolent and sensual. It is for the interest of the new government that they should be industrious and moral. Great efforts have been made with this object, and much good has resulted.
Towards the close of the last century an official report was made by Mr. Grant, and addressed to the Court of Directors. It was the result of an inquiry instituted into the morals of British India. India and Bengal were especially held in view. Much laxity of morals in private life then prevailed, and he believed that many intrigues were altogether concealed, while many that were discovered were hushed up. Receptacles for women of infamous character everywhere abounded, and were licensed. The prostitutes had a place in society, making a principal figure at all the entertainments of the great. They were admitted even into the zenanas to exhibit their dances. Lord Cornwallis, soon after his arrival in Bengal, was invited by the Nawab to one of these entertainments, but refused to go. The frightful punishments against adultery appeared enacted far more to protect the sanctity of caste than public or private virtue. A man committing the crime was threatened with the embraces, after death, of an iron figure of a woman made red hot. Connection, however, with prostitutes and dancing girls was permitted by the written law.
If that account was correct—and it is corroborated by many others—an immense amelioration must have taken place. The Hindus are now generally chaste, and the profligacy of their large cities does not exceed that of large cities in Europe. In Benares, in 1800, out of a population of 180,000, there were 1500 regular prostitutes, besides 264 Nach or dancing girls. They were all of the Sudra, which is a very low caste. In Dacca there were, out of a population of 35,238 Mohammedans and 31,429 Hindus, 234 Mohammedan and 539 Hindu prostitutes.
At Hurdwar it was one of the duties of the female pilgrims to the sacred stream to bathe stark naked before hundreds of men, which does not indicate any great modesty.
The better order of Nach girls are of the highest grace and fascination, with much personal charm, which they begin to lose at 20 years of age. They mostly dress in very modest attire, and many are decent in their manners.
The Gipsies of India, many of whom are Thugs, have numbers of handsome women in their camps, whom they send out as prostitutes to gain money, or seduce the traveller from his road.
It is said that many of the Europeans scattered over India encourage immorality, taking temporary companions. A large class of half-caste children has been certainly growing up in the country, whose mothers are not all the children of white men.
The institution of slavery in Malwa was principally confined to women. Almost all the prostitutes were of this class. They were purchased when children by the heads of companies, who trained them for the calling, and lived upon the gains of their prostitution. The system is even at present nearly similar, the girls being bargained away by their parents into virtual servitude. Many of the wealthy Brahmins, with from 50 to 200 slaves, employed them all day in the menial labours of the establishment, and at night dispersed them to separate dwellings, where they were permitted to prostitute themselves as they pleased. A large proportion of the profits, however, which accrued from this vile traffic formed the share of the master, who also claimed as slaves the children which might spring from this vile intercourse. The female slaves and dancing girls could not marry, and were often harshly used. Society was disorganized by the vast bastard breed produced by this system.
The Europeans at Madras, a few years ago, did not consider their liaisons with the native women so immoral as they would have been considered in England. The concubines were generally girls from the lower ranks, purchased from their mothers. Their conduct usually depends on the treatment they receive. Many of them become exceedingly faithful and attached, being bitterly jealous of any other native women interfering with their master’s affections, but never complaining of being superseded by an English wife. They are often, however, extravagant gamblers, and involve their “lovers” in heavy debts.
An Indian mother will sometimes dedicate her female child to prostitution at the temple; and those who are not appropriated by the Brahmins may go with any one, though the money must be paid into a general fund for the support of the establishment.
Some of the ceremonies performed in the temples of the south, by the worshippers of the female deities, were simply orgies of the impurest kind. When a man desired to be initiated into these rites, he went with a priest, after various preliminary rites, to some house, taking nine females (one a Brahmin) and nine men—one woman for himself, and another for his sacerdotal preceptor. All being seated, numerous ceremonies were performed until twelve o’clock at night, when they gratified their inflamed passions in the most libidinous manner. The women, of course, were prostitutes by habit or profession. Men and women danced naked before thousands of spectators at the worship of the goddess Doorga. The impurities originated usually with the priests. Many of the Brahmins persuaded their disciples to allow them to gratify their lust upon their young wives, declaring it was a meritorious sacrifice. At the temple of Juggernaut, during the great festivals, a number of females were paid to dance and sing before the god daily. These were all prostitutes. They lived in separate houses, not in the temple.
The daughters of Brahmins, until eight years old, were declared by the religious code to be objects of worship, as forms of goddesses. Horrid orgies took place at the devotions paid them. Other women might be chosen as objects of adoration. A man must select from a particular class—his own wife or a prostitute: she must be stripped naked while the ceremony is performed, and this is done in a manner too revolting to describe. The clothes of the prostitutes hired to dance before the idols are so thin that they may almost be said to have been naked. Thus the immorality of the Hindoos, as far as it extended, was encouraged by their religion.
In another way some classes of Brahmins contributed to demoralize the people. A man of this profession would marry from three to 120 wives, in different parts of the country. Many, indeed, earned a living in this manner; for as often as they visited any woman, her father was obliged to make a present. Some go once after their marriage, and never go again; while others visit their wives once in three or four years. Some of the more respectable Brahmins never hold sexual intercourse with any of their wives, who dwell at home, but treat them with great respect. These neglected women often take to prostitution. The brothels of Calcutta and other large cities are crowded with such cast-off mistresses of the Brahmins. They procure abortion when pregnant. In the city of Bombay a whole quarter is inhabited chiefly by prostitutes. Riding in the environs, the European resident is frequently assailed by men, or sometimes boys, who inquire by signs or words, whether he desires a companion; should he assent, the woman is privately brought to his house in a close palanquin, or he is taken to a regular place of resort, in one of these vehicles, which are contrived for secrecy.
Among the Nairs, on the coast of Malabar, the institution of marriage has never been strictly or completely introduced. Polyandrism is practised. A woman receives four or five brothers as her husbands, and a slipper left at the door is a signal that she is engaged with one of them. The mother is thus the only parent known, and the children inherit the property of the family in equal divisions. In some cases the Nairs marry a particular woman, who never leaves her mother’s home, but has intercourse with any men she pleases, subject to the sacred law of caste. In the mountain community of Tibet the same custom prevails. It is to be regretted that our information on this subject is not more explicit and full.
The venereal disease is known in most parts of Hindustan. Some, with little reason, suppose it was carried there after the discovery of America. Had it been so, its introduction would probably have been noticed in history or by some tradition. It is not, indeed, called by any Sanscrit word, but is known by a Persian name[73].
In Ceylon the influence of Christianity, accompanied by the moral law of England, is working a reform in the manners of large classes among the people. Under the original institutions of the Singhalese, they never licensed public prostitution; and whatever effect the Buddhist religion produced, it produced in the cause of virtue. The temples were never made brothels; but the character of the people is naturally sensual, and the capital vices of society widely prevail among them. The Buddhist code, indeed, abounds with precepts inculcating not only chastity, but rigid continence. Profligacy, however, among the men, and want of chastity among the women, are general characteristics of all classes, from the highest to the humblest caste. To this day the disregard of virtue is a crying sin of the women, even of those who profess Christianity. Murders often occur from the jealousy of husbands or lovers detecting their wives or mistresses with a paramour.
In Ceylon, as in continental India, the division of castes is by the ancient and sacred law absolute, though custom sometimes infringes the enactments of the holy code. Marriage from a higher into a lower caste is peremptorily forbidden; though occasionally it is tolerated, but never approved, between a man of honourable and a woman of inferior rank. If a female of noble blood engage in a criminal intrigue with a plebeian, his life has on many occasions been sacrificed to wash out the stain, and formerly hers was also required to obliterate the disgrace. A recent and striking instance of this kind came to the knowledge of Mr. Charles Sirr. The daughter of a high-caste Kandian, enjoying the liberty which in Ceylon is allowed to women of all grades, became attached to a young man of lower caste, and entreated her parents’ consent to the match, begging them to excuse her for her affection’s sake, and declaring she could not live unless permitted to fulfil the design on which her heart was set. They refused, and, though the petition was again and again renewed, remained obdurate in their denial. The girl was some time after found to have sacrificed her honour to the man whom she loved, but dared not wed. He was all the while willing and desirous to marry her, and would have married her then, but her parents were inexorable. To preserve the honour of the family, the father slew his daughter with his own hand. The English authorities at once arrested the murderer, brought him to trial, and condemned him to death. He resolutely asserted his right to do as he pleased with the girl, protesting against any judicial interference of the English with his family arrangements. He was, nevertheless, executed, as a warning; and several of these examples have had a most salutary influence in restraining the passions of the natives in various parts of the island. It was undoubtedly the man’s sense of honour that impelled him to murder his daughter; and she was thus the victim of caste prejudices, which in Ceylon are so rigid that a man could not force his slave to marry into a rank below him, whether free-born or otherwise.
In Ceylon, as in most other parts of Asia, marriages are contracted at a very early age. A man, by the law, “attains his majority” when sixteen years old, and thenceforward is released from paternal control; all engagements, however, which he may form previous to that time, without the consent of his friends in authority, are null and void. A girl, as soon as she is marriageable according to nature, is marriageable according to law; and her parents, or, if she be an orphan, her nearest kindred, give a feast—grand or humble, according to their means—when she is introduced to a number of unmarried male friends. If she be handsome or rich, a crowd of suitors is sure to be attracted. Free as women are in Ceylon after their marriage, they are rarely consulted beforehand on the choice of a partner. That is settled for the girl. To this custom much of the immorality prevalent in the island, as well as in all parts of the East, may without a doubt be ascribed. Where the sexes are not free to form what lawful unions they please, it may be taken as an axiom that they will have recourse to irregular intrigues.
When the feast is given at which a young girl is introduced as marriageable—a custom very similar in form and object to that which obtains in our own country—numerous young unmarried men of the same caste are invited to the house. In a short time after, a relative or friend of any young man who may desire to take the maiden as his wife, calls upon her family, and insinuates that a rumour of the intended union is flying abroad. If this be denied, quietly or otherwise, the match-maker loses no time in withdrawing; but if it is answered in a jocular bantering strain, he takes his leave, with many compliments, to announce his reception to the father of the bridegroom. This personage, after a day or two, makes his call, inquires into the amount of the marriage dowry, and carries the negotiation a few steps further. Mutual visits are exchanged, and all arrangements made, with great precision. The mother of the young man, with several other matrons, take the girl into an inner room, where she is stripped, and her person examined, to see that it is free from any corporal defect, from ulcers, and from any cutaneous disease. Should this investigation prove satisfactory, numerous formalities succeed, and an auspicious day is fixed upon for the wedding. This takes place with much ceremony, the stars being in all things consulted. Should the bridegroom’s horoscope refuse to agree with that of the bride, his younger brother may wed her for him by a species of proxy. The whole is a tedious succession of formal observances, not so much the ordinance of religion as the details of an ancient ritual etiquette. This is the Buddhaical custom; but it is immensely expensive, and cannot be followed by the very poor classes. It is also forbidden to people of extremely low caste, even though they should be wealthy enough to afford, or sufficiently improvident to risk it. Among the humble and indigent the marriage is confirmed by the mutual consent of the parents and the young couple passing a night together.
One of the most remarkable features in the social aspect of Ceylon is the institution of polyandrism, which among the Kandians is permitted and practised to a great extent. A Kandian matron of high caste is sometimes the wife of eight brothers. The custom is justified upon various grounds. Sirr expressed to a Kandian chief of no mean rank his abhorrence of this revolting practice. The man was surprised at these sentiments, and replied that on the contrary it was an excellent custom. Among the rich it prevented litigation; it saved property from minute subdivision; it concentrated family influence. Among the poor it was absolutely necessary, for several brothers could not each maintain a separate wife, or bear the expense of a whole family, which jointly they could easily do. The offspring of these strange unions call all the brothers alike their fathers, though preference is given to the eldest, and are equal heirs to the family property; should litigation, however, arise concerning the inheritance, they often all claim the senior brother as a parent, and the Kandian laws recognise this claim.
Although, when a plurality of husbands is adopted, they are usually brothers, a man may, with the woman’s consent, bring home another, who enjoys all the marital rights, and is called an associated husband. In fact, the first may, subject to his wife’s pleasure, bring home as many strangers as he pleases, and the children inherit their property equally. It is rare, however, to meet one of these associated husbands among the Kandians of higher and purer caste, though two or more brothers continually marry the same woman. This revolting custom is now confined to the province of Kandy, though some writers assert that it was formerly prevalent throughout the maritime districts. In these, however, monogamy is at present practised, except by the Mohammedans, who are polygamists. Statements to the contrary have been laid before us; but Sirr positively asserts that he never saw a Kandian or Singhalese who had acknowledged himself to have more than a single wife. The Muslims, though long settled in the island, preserve their peculiar characteristics, their religion, habits, and manners, which they have not communicated to the rest of the population.
There are two kinds of marriage in Kandy, the one called “Bema,” the other “Deega.” In the first of these the husband goes to live at his wife’s residence, and the woman shares with her brothers the family inheritance. He, however, who is married after this fashion, enjoys little respect from his bride’s relations; and if he gives offence to her father, or the head of the household, may be at once ejected from the abode. In reference to this precarious and doubtful lodgement there is an ancient proverb still popular in Kandy. It says that a man wedded according to the Bema process should only take to his bride’s dwelling four articles of property—a pair of sandals to protect his feet, a palm-leaf to shield his head from the fiery rays of the sun, a walking staff to support him if he be sick, and a lantern to illuminate his path should he chance to be ejected during darkness. He may thus be prepared to depart at any hour of the day or night.
Deega, the other kind of marriage, is that in which the wife passes from underneath the parental roof to dwell in her husband’s own house. In this case she relinquishes all claim to a share in her family inheritance, but acquires a contingent right to some of her husband’s property. The man’s authority is, under this form of contract, far greater than under that of Bema. He cannot be divorced without his own consent, while, in the other case, separation, as we have seen, is a summary process, entirely depending on the caprice of the woman or her family. In a country where the female population is considerably less numerous than the male, and where women generally enjoy much freedom, a certain degree of indulgence will always be granted to the fickle quality in their character. In Ceylon this liberty in the one sex involves a certain kind of slavery in the other. Women frequently seek for divorces upon the most frivolous and trifling pretexts, and as these are too easily attainable by the simple return of the marriage gifts, they continually occur. Should a child be born within nine months from the day of the final separation, the husband is bound to maintain it for the first three years of its life, after which it is considered sufficiently old to be taken from its mother. If, however, while under the marriage pledge, the woman defiles herself by adultery, the husband, if with his own eyes he was the witness of her infidelity, might with his own hands, under the native law, take away the life of her paramour. Notwithstanding this terrible privilege, it is asserted with consistency by many authorities that, in all parts of Ceylon, from the highest to the lowest caste, the want of conjugal faith in the married, and chastity in the unmarried people, is frightful to consider. When a man puts away his wife for adulterous intrigue, he may disinherit her and the whole of her offspring, notwithstanding that he may feel and acknowledge them all to be his own children. When, however, he seeks a divorce from caprice, he renounces all claim to his wife’s inheritance or actual property, and must divide with her whatever may have been jointly accumulated during the period of their cohabitation. The men of Ceylon do not always, however, exercise their privileges. They are generally very indulgent husbands. Many of them, indeed, are uxorious to an offensive extreme, and forgive offences which, by most persons, are held unpardonable. A short time since a Kandian applied to the British judicial authorities to compel the return to him and his children of an unfaithful wife, who had deserted her home for that of a paramour. The husband pleaded his love for her, implored her for her children’s sake to come back, and promised to forgive her offence; but she turned away from him, and coolly asked the judge if he could force her to return. He answered that unfortunately he could not, but advised her to return to the home of her lawful partner, who was ready to forgive and embrace her. She disregarded equally the entreaties of the one and the exhortation of the other, and returned to her paramour, whom she shortly afterwards deserted for another.
The numerous instances of this kind which happen in the island have encouraged a swarm of satirical effusions upon the faithlessness of the female sex; but if the women were also poets, they might echo every note of the song. In illustration of the estimate formed of them, we may quote a few lines translated from the original by Sirr. They apply to the fraudulent disposition of women, and have become proverbial among the people.
The adumbra is a species of fig-tree, and the natives assert that no mortal has ever seen its bloom.
Under the native kings the Singhalese were forbidden to contract marriage with any one of nearer affinity than the second cousin; such an union was incestuous, and severely punished. Under the English government, however, many of these old restrictions have been modified. Among the Christian population, on the other hand—Catholic as well as Protestant—many traces of their old idolatry are still distinctly visible in the ceremony of marriage.
The Buddhist law allows to every man, whatever his grade, only one wife; but the ancient Kandian princes, of course, broke this law and took as many wives or concubines as they pleased.
We have alluded to the numerical difference between the sexes. The population of Ceylon is about 1,500,000, and the males exceed the females by nearly a tenth. In 1814 it was 476,000; there were 20,000 more males than females. In 1835 there was a population of 646,000 males, and 584,000 females. At both these periods the disparity was greatest in the poorest places. In the fishing villages, where wholesome food abounded, there were more females than males. The same circumstance is true at the present day. Some writers attribute this to a gracious provision of Nature, which checks the increase of the people; but Nature makes no provision against unnatural things, and starvation is a monstrous thing in a fertile country. We may with more safety assign as a cause the open or secret infanticide, which, under the old laws, was common. Female children, except the first born, born under a malignant star, were sure to be sacrificed. It was hardly considered an offence; but being, under the British rule, denounced as murder, has been gradually abolished. The easier means of life, which in Ceylon and throughout the rest of our Asiatic dominions are afforded to the people under English sway, take away the incentive of poverty to crime. The population has enormously increased, an unfailing sign of good government, if misery does not increase with it.
The social position of the Singhalese women is not so degraded as in many other parts of the East; the poor labouring hard, but as partners rather than as slaves. This superior condition does not, unhappily, elevate their moral character, for it is unaccompanied by other essential circumstances. Profligacy, we have said, is widely prevalent in Ceylon; yet prostitution, at least of the avowed and public kind, is not so. Under the Kandian dynasty it was peremptorily forbidden; a common harlot had her hair and ears cut off and was whipped naked. If, however, we accept the general definition of the word prostitution as any obscene traffic in a woman’s person, we shall find much of it clandestinely practised. The women are skilful in procuring abortion, and thus rid themselves of the consequences which follow their intrigues. Of course, in the sea-port towns prostitution exists, but we have no account of it. It is fair, however, to notice the opinions of Sir Emerson Tennent, that the morals of the people in these and in all other parts of the islands are rapidly improving, and that marriage is becoming a more sacred tie[74].
In the immense empire of China, the civilization of which has been cast in a mould fashioned by despotism, a general uniformity of manners is prevalent. Singular as many of its customs are, they vary very little in the different provinces, for although the population be composed of a mixture of races, the iron discipline of the government forces all to bend to one universal fashion. The differences which are remarked between the practice of the people in one district, and those of another, spring only from the nature of circumstances. It is more easy, therefore, to take an outline view of this vast empire, than it is to sketch many smaller countries, where the uniformity of manners is not so absolute.
China affords a wide and interesting field for our inquiry. Were our information complete, there is perhaps no state in the world with reference to which so curious an account might be written as China, with its prostitution system. Unfortunately, however, the negligence or prudery of travellers has allowed the subject to be passed over. We know that a remarkable system of this kind does exist, that prostitutes abound in the cities of the Celestial Empire, and that they form a distinct order; we know something of the classes from which they are taken, how they are procured, in what their education consists, where and in what manner they live, and how and by whom they are encouraged. But this information is to be derived, not from any full account by an intelligent and observing inquirer, but from isolated facts scattered through a hundred books which require to be connected, and then only form a rough and incomplete view of the subject. Statistics we have positively none, though ample opportunities must be afforded travellers for arriving at something near the truth in such cities as Canton. However, from what knowledge we possess it is evident the social economy of the Chinese with respect to prostitution presents clear points of analogy with our own.
In conformity with the plan of this inquiry, we proceed first to ascertain the general condition of the female sex in China. Abundant information has been supplied us on this subject, as well by the written laws, and by the literature of the country, as by the travellers who have visited and described it.
As in all Asiatic, indeed in all barbarous, countries, women in China are counted inferior to men. The high example of Confucius taught the people—though their own character inclined them before, and was reflected from him—that the female sex was created for the convenience of the male. The great philosopher spoke of women and slaves as belonging to the same class, and complained that they were equally difficult to govern. That ten daughters are not equal in value to one son is a proverb which strongly expresses the Chinese sentiment upon this point, and the whole of their manners is pervaded by the same spirit. Feminine virtue, indeed, is severely guarded by the law, but not for its own sake. The well-being of the state, and the interest of the male sex, are sought to be protected by the rigorous enactments on the subject of chastity; but the morality, like the charity of that nation, is contained principally in its codes, essays, and poems, for in practice they are among the most demoralised on the earth.
The spirit of the Salic law might naturally be looked for in the political code of such a state. It is so. The throne can be occupied only by a man. An illegitimate son is held in more respect than a legitimate daughter. The constitution provides that if the principal wife fail to bear male children, the son of the next shall succeed, and if she be barren also, of the next, and so on, according to their seniority, the son of each has a contingent claim to the sovereignty. Thus in the most important department of their public economy the national sentiment is manifested. We may now examine the laws which regulate the intercourse of the sexes, and then inquire into the actual state of manners. It will be useful to remember the truth, which has already been stated, that no language is so full of moral axioms and honourable sentiments as the Chinese, while no nation is more flagitious in its practice.
The government of China, styled paternal because it rules with the rod, regulates the minutest actions of a man’s career. He is governed in everything—in the temple, in the street, at his own table, in all the relations of life. The law of marriage, for instance, is full, rigid, and explicit. The young persons about to be wedded know little or nothing of the transaction.
Parental authority is supreme, and alliances are contracted in which the man and wife do not see each others’ faces until they occupy the same habitation and are mutually pledged for life. Match-making in China is a profession followed by old women, who earn what we may term a commission upon the sales they effect. When a union between two families is intended, its particulars must be fully explained on either side, so that no deceit shall be practised. The engagement is then drawn and the amount of presents determined, for in all countries where women hold this position, marriage is more or less a mercantile transaction. When once the contract is made, it is irrevocable. If the friends of the girl repent and desire to break the match, the man among them who had authority to give her away is liable to receive fifty strokes of the bamboo, and the marriage must proceed. Whatever other engagements have been entered into are null and punishable, and the original bridegroom has in all cases a decisive claim. If he, on the other hand, or the friend who represents and controls him, desire to dissolve the compact, giving a marriage present to another woman, he is chastised with fifty blows, and compelled to fulfil the terms of his first engagement, while his second favourite is at liberty to marry as she pleases. If either of the parties is incontinent after the ceremony of betrothal, the crime is considered as adultery, and so punished. But if any deceit be practised, and either family represent the person about to marry under a false description, they become liable to severe penalties, and on the part of the man most strictly.
The husband, finding that a girl had been palmed off on him by fraud, is permitted to release himself from the tie. Such incidents, nevertheless, do occasionally occur. One of rather an amusing nature is alluded to by several writers. A young man who had been promised in marriage the youngest daughter of a large family was startled when, after the ceremony was complete, he unveiled his bride, to find the eldest sister, very ugly and deeply pitted with the small pox. The law would have allowed him to escape from such an union, but he submitted, and soon afterwards consoled himself with a handsome concubine.
Although the girl, when once betrothed, is absolutely bound to the husband selected for her, he dare not, under pain of the bastinado, force her away before the specified time. On the other hand, her friends must not, under similar penalties, detain her after that time. Thus the law regulates the whole transaction, and the parents dispose as they will of their children. Occasionally, however, a young man, not yet emancipated from paternal authority, contracts a marriage according to his own inclination, and if the rites have actually been performed, it cannot be dissolved; but if he be only betrothed, and his parents have in the meanwhile agreed upon an alliance for him, he must relinquish his own design and obey their choice.
Polygamy is allowed in China, but under certain regulations. The first wife is usually chosen from a family equal in rank and riches to that of the husband, and is affianced with as much splendour and ceremony as the parties can afford. She acquires all the rights which belong to the chief wife in any Asiatic country. The man may then take as many as he pleases, who are inferior in rank to the first, but equal to each other. The term inferior wife is more applicable than that of concubine, as there is a form of espousal, and their children have a contingent claim to the inheritance. The practice, however, brings no honour, if it brings no positive shame, though now sanctioned by long habit. Originally it appears to have been condemned by the stricter moralists, and it has been observed that the Chinese term to describe this kind of companion is, curiously enough, compounded of the words crime and woman. It is a derogatory position, and such as only the poor and humble will consent to occupy. One of the national sayings, and the feeling with many of the women, is, that it is more honourable to be a poor man’s wife than the concubine of an emperor. A man cannot, under the penalty of a hundred blows, degrade his first wife to this position, or raise an inferior wife to hers—no such act is valid before the law.
None but the rich can afford, and none but the loose and luxurious will practise, polygamy except when the first wife fails to bear a son. Unless some such reason exists, the opinion of moralists is against it. Men with too many wives lose the Emperor’s confidence, since he accuses them of being absorbed in domestic concerns. In this case it is usual to take an inferior wife, who is purchased from the lower ranks for a sum of money, that an heir may be born to the house. The situation of these poor creatures is aggravated or softened according to the disposition of their chief, for they are virtually her servants, and are not allowed even to eat in her presence. They receive no elevation by her decease, but are for ever the mere slaves of their master’s lust. At the same time their inferior position, and therefore inferior consequence, gains them some agreeable privileges. The principal wife is not allowed to indulge in conversation or any free intercourse with strangers—a pleasure which is sometimes enjoyed with little restraint by the others, as well as by the female domestics. Not much jealousy appears to be entertained by these women, who are easily to be procured. Their sons receive half as much patrimony as the sons of the mistress of the household.
The social laws of China inculcate the good treatment of wives; but the main solicitude of the legislator has been with respect to the fixity of the law, and the rights of the male or supreme sex. Leaving her parents’ home, the girl is transferred into bondage. Some men, however, go to the house of their bride’s father, which is contrary to the established form; but when once received across the threshold as a son-in-law, he cannot be ejected, and leaves only when he is inclined.
A man may not marry within a certain period of his chief wife’s death; but if he takes a woman who has already been his concubine, the punishment is two degrees milder. So also with widows, who cannot be forced by their friends to make any new engagement at all, but are protected by the law. Women left in this position have a powerful dissuasive against a fresh union, in the entire independence which they enjoy, and which they could enjoy under no other circumstances.
With respect to the laws relating to consanguinity, the Chinese system is particularly rigid. The prohibited limits lie very widely apart. In this a change appears to have been effected under the Mantchus, for among the traces of ancient manners which become visible at a remoter period, revealed only, however, by the twilight of tradition, a profligate state of public morals is indicated. We find parents giving both their daughters in marriage to one man, while the intercourse of the sexes was all but entirely unrestrained. The strictness of the modern law is attended with some inconvenient results, for in China the number of family names is very small, while it enacted that all marriages between persons of the same family names are not only null and void, but punishable by blows and a fine. All such contracts between individuals previously related by marriage within four degrees, are denounced as incestuous. A man may not marry his father’s or his mother’s sister-in-law, his father’s or mother’s aunt’s daughter, his son-in-law’s or daughter-in-law’s sister, his grandson’s wife’s sister, his mother’s brother’s or sister’s daughter, or any blood relations whatever, to any degree, however remote. Such offences are punished with the bamboo. Death by strangling is enacted against one who marries a brother’s widow, while with a grandfather’s or father’s wife it is more particularly infamous, and the criminal suffers the extreme disgrace of decapitation.
These regulations apply to the first wife, similar offences with regard to the inferior being visited with penalties two degrees less severe. Not only, however, are the degrees of consanguinity strictly defined, but the union of classes is under restriction. An officer of government within the third order marrying into a family under his jurisdiction, or in which legal proceedings are under his investigation, is subject to heavy punishment. The family of the girl, if they voluntarily aid him, incur the chastisement also; but if they have submitted under fear of his authority, they are exempt. To marry an absconded female, flying from justice, is prohibited. To take forcibly as a wife a freeman’s daughter, subjects the offender to death by strangulation. An officer of government, or the son of any high functionary with hereditary honours, who takes as his first or inferior wife a female comedian or musician, or any member of a disreputable class, is punished by sixty strokes of the bamboo. An equal punishment is inflicted on any priest who marries at all; and, in addition to this, he is expelled his order. If he delude a woman under false pretences, he incurs the penalty of the worst incest. Slaves and free persons are forbidden to intermarry. Any person, conniving at, or neglecting to denounce, such illegal contracts, are criminals before the law.
The union after the betrothal must be completed; but it may also be broken. Seven causes, according to the law, justify a man in repudiating his first wife. These are—barrenness, lasciviousness, disregard of her husband’s parents, talkativeness, thievish propensities, an envious suspicious temper, and inveterate infirmity. If, however, any of the three legal reasons against divorce can be proved by the woman, she cannot be put away—first, that she has mourned three years for her husband’s family; second, that the family has become rich after having been poor before and at the time of marriage; third, her having no father or mother living to receive her. She is thus protected, in some measure, from her husband’s caprice. If she commit adultery, however, he dare not retain, but must dismiss her. If she abscond against his will, she may be severely flogged; if she commit bigamy, she is strangled. When a man leaves his home, his wife must remain in it three years before she can sue for a divorce, and then give notice of her intention before a public tribunal. It is forbidden, under peremptory enactments, to harbour a fugitive wife or female servant.
A man finding his wife in the act of adultery may kill her with her paramour, provided he does it immediately, but only on that condition. If the guilty wife adds to her crime by intriguing against her husband’s life, she dies by a slow and painful execution. If even the adulterer slay her husband without her knowledge, she is strangled. The privilege of putting a wife to death is not allowed for any inferior offence. To strike a husband, is punishable by a hundred blows and divorce; to disable him, with strangulation. In all these circumstances the inferior wife is punished one degree more severely. Thus offences against them are less harshly, and offences by them more rigidly, chastised. In addition to these legal visitations the bamboo is at hand to preserve discipline among the women.
One of the laws of China exhibits a peculiar feature of depravity in the people. It is enacted, that whoever lends his wife or daughter upon hire is to be severely punished, and any one falsely bargaining away his wife or his sister is to be similarly dealt with. All persons consenting to the transaction share the penalty. Nor is this an obsolete enactment against an unknown crime. Instances do not unfrequently occur of poor men selling their wives as concubines to their wealthier neighbours. Others prostitute them for gain; but these instances of profligacy usually occur in the large and crowded cities. Sometimes the woman consents, but sometimes also opposes the infamous design.
In 1832 a woman was condemned to strangulation for killing her husband by accident, while resisting an adulterer whom he had introduced for her to prostitute herself to him. These incidents occur only in the lowest class. Some men are as jealous as Turks, and maintain eunuchs to guard their wives.
Under this system many restrictions are imposed on the women of China. They form no part of what is called society, enjoying little companionship, even with persons of their own sex. Those of the better class are instructed in embroidering and other graceful but useless accomplishments. They are seldom educated to any extent, though some instances have occurred of learned women and elegant poetesses, who have been praised and admired throughout the country. Fond of gay clothes, of gaudy furniture, and brilliant decoration, they love nothing so much as display; and though assuming a demure and timid air, cannot be highly praised on this account, for their bashfulness is, in such cases, more apparent than real. Still they are generally described as faithful partners. Religious services are performed for them in the temple, to which women are admitted. The wives of the poorer sort labour in the fields, and perform all the drudgery of the house, an occupation which is held as suited to their nature. “Let my daughter sweep your house” is the expression made use of in offering a wife. It should be mentioned, however, to relieve the darkness of this picture, that husbands often present offerings at the temples, with prayers to the gods for the recovery of their sick wives. The idea may indeed suggest itself, that this is with a view to economy, as girls are costly purchases; but no man is the greater philosopher for asserting that a whole nation exists without the commonest sentiments of human nature. Indeed, many instances occur even in China of husbands and wives living as dear friends together, especially when polygamy has not been adopted in the dwelling. The obedience to old habits is not to be confounded with characteristic harshness in the individual; nor does it seem impossible, when we examine the variety of manners in the world, to believe in a strong and tender attachment between a man and the woman whom, in adherence to ancient usage, he would not allow to eat at the same table with himself. A privilege belongs to the female sex here which it enjoys in no other barbarian country. A strong authority is recognised in the widow over her son. She is acknowledged to have the right to be supported by him, and it is a proverbial saying, that “a woman is thrice dependent—before marriage on her father, after marriage on her husband, when a widow on her son.”
From this view of the condition of women, and the regulations of marriage, we proceed to an important part of the subject—the infanticide for which China has been so infamously celebrated. It is impossible to conceive a more contradictory confusion of statements, than we have seen put forward with reference to this question. Weighing the various authorities, however, we are inclined to adopt a moderate view, rejecting the extravagant pictures of one, and the broad denials of the other set of writers. Infanticide, it cannot be disputed, is practised in the country, and to a considerable extent; but it is, and always will be impossible, to acquire the exact statistics, or even an approximation to the precise truth.
Two causes appear to have operated in encouraging this practice—the poverty of the lower classes, and the severity of the law with respect to the illicit intercourse of the sexes. The former is the principal cause. There is a strong maternal feeling in the woman’s breast, and children are only destroyed when the indigence of the parents allows no hope of rearing them well. It is invariably the female child which is, under these circumstances, slain; for the son can always, after a few years, earn his livelihood, and be an assistance, instead of a burden, to the family. The birth of a female child is regarded as a calamity, and brings mourning into the house. One of the national proverbs expresses this fact in a striking manner, exhibiting also the inferior estimation in which that sex is viewed. It says, that to a female infant a common tile may be given as a toy, while to a male a gem should be presented.
When it is determined to destroy the offspring thus born under the roof of poverty, a choice of method is open. It may be drowned in warm water; its throat may be pinched; it may be stifled by a wet cloth tied over its mouth; it may be choked by grains of rice. Another plan is to carry the child, immediately after its birth, and bury it alive. Captain Collins, of the Plover sloop-of-war, relates that some of his company, while visiting the coast of China, saw a boat full of men and women, with four infants. They landed and dug two pits, in which they were about to inter their living but feeble victims, when they were disturbed. They then made off rapidly, and passed round a headland, beyond which they, no doubt, accomplished their purpose without interruption. When the missionary Smith was in the suburbs of Canton, in 1844, he was presented by a native with a work written by a mandarin, and published gratuitously at the expense of government, to discourage the practice of infanticide. When questioned upon the actual prevalence of the custom, the native said that, taking a circle with a radius of ten miles from the spot they then occupied, the number of infanticides within the space thus included would not exceed five hundred in a year. It was confined to the very poor, and originated in the difficulty of rearing and providing for their female offspring. The rich never encouraged, and the poor were ashamed, of the practice. He knew men who had drowned their daughters, but would not confess the act, speaking of their children as though they had died of disease. In Fokien province, on the contrary, infanticides were numerous. At a place called Kea-King-Chow, about five days’ journey from Canton, there were computed to be 500 or 600 cases in a month. The comparative immunity of Canton from the contagion of this crime was the government foundling-hospital established there. About 500 female children, born of parents in poverty and want, were annually received, to have temporary provision and sustenance. From time to time, the more wealthy merchants and gentry visit the institution to select some of the children, whom they take home to educate as concubines or servants. The hospital has accommodation for at least 1000 infants, each of which is usually removed after three months, either to the house of some voluntary guardian, or to wet nurses in other districts. This is the only important institution of the kind in the province. Infanticide is still, even by the most favourable accounts, lamentably prevalent. The foundling-hospitals, of which there is one in every great town, do certainly oppose a check to the practice. That at Shanghae receives annually about 200 infants.
The villagers in the neighbourhood of Amoy confessed that female infanticide was generally practised among them, and their statements were expressed in a manner which left no doubt that they considered it an innocent and proper expedient for lightening the evils of poverty. Two out of every four, they said, were destroyed; but rich people, who could afford to bring them up never resorted to, because they never needed, such a means of relief. Some killed three, four, or even five out of six; it depended entirely on the circumstances of the individual. The object was effected immediately after the infant’s birth. If sons, however, were born in alternate succession, it was regarded as an omen of happy fortune for the parents, and the daughters were spared. None of the villagers denied to any of their questioners the generality of the custom, but few would confess personally to the actual fact. In some districts one-half was reported as the average destruction of the female population, and in the cities some declared the crime was equally prevalent, though we may take this as the exaggeration which always attends the loose statements of ignorant men, who, having little idea of figures, are required to furnish a number, and speak at random.
Infanticide, however, is not wholly confined to the poor. It is occasionally resorted to by the rich to conceal their illicit amours. In 1838 a proclamation against it was published, but the general perpetration of the crime rendered its repression impossible, with such machinery as the Emperor has at his command. Abeel calculated that throughout a large district, the average was 39 per cent. of the female children. It is evident, however, from all these facts, that under an improved government, the crime might be altogether extinguished, not by severe enactments or vigilant police, but by rendering infanticide unnecessary in the eyes of the people.
The second cause which induces parents to destroy their children is the stringency of the law against the illicit intercourse of unmarried people; its provisions are equally characteristic and severe. To render its enforcement easier, the separation of the sexes is rigidly insisted upon. Not only are servants, but even brothers and sisters, prohibited from mixing except under regulation. Intercourse by mutual consent is punished with 70 blows, while with married people the penalty varies from 80 to 100. Violation of a female, wedded or single, is punished by strangulation. An assault, with intent to ravish, by 100 strokes of the bamboo and perpetual banishment to a remote spot. Intercourse with children under twelve years of age is treated as rape. Should a child be born from one of these unlawful intrigues, its support devolves on the father; but if the transaction be thus far concealed, this evidence of it is usually sunk in the river, or flung out by the way-side. An unmarried woman found pregnant is severely punished, whether her accomplice can be discovered or not. The illicit intercourse of slaves with their masters’ wives or daughters is punished with death; while officers of government, civil and military, and the sons of those who hold hereditary rank, if found indulging in criminal intrigues with females under their jurisdiction, are subjected to unmerciful castigation with the stick.
One grace is accorded to the weaker sex in China. No woman is committed to prison, except in capital cases, or cases of adultery. In all others they remain, if married, in the custody of their husbands; if single, in that of their friends. No woman quick with child can be flogged, tortured, or executed, until a hundred days after her delivery.
Women, however, of the poorer orders, whose friends do not care, or are unable, to be responsible for them, are lodged under the care of female wardens, and in reference to this we may instance a curious fact illustrative of prison discipline in China. In 1805 one of the great officers of government made a report to the Emperor, that three female warders of the prison were in the habit of engaging with traders in an illicit and disgraceful intercourse with female servants, and hiring out the female prisoners, not yet sentenced or waiting for discharge, to gain money for them by prostitution.
Sensual as the Chinese are, the punishable breach of the moral law—the intercourse of unmarried persons—is checked by the system of early marriages. Children are often betrothed in the cradle. Men seldom pass the age of twenty, or girls that of fifteen, in celibacy. The Parsees, however, of all ages, are notorious for their abandoned mode of life.
Prostitution, however, prevails to a prodigious extent. There is throughout the country a regular traffic in females. “Seduction and adultery,” says Williams, “are comparatively unfrequent; but brothels and their inmates occur everywhere on land and water. One danger attending young girls going alone is, that they will be stolen for incarceration in these gates of hell.”
This is in allusion to a very extraordinary system prevalent in the great cities of China. In 1832 it was calculated there were between 8000 and 10,000 prostitutes having abodes in and about Canton. Of these the greater portion had been stolen while children, and compelled to adopt that course of life. Dressed gaily, taught to affect happiness, and trained in seductive manners, they were examples of their class in Europe. Many young girls were carried away, forcibly violated, and then consigned to a brothel.
Hundreds of kidnappers, chiefly women, swarmed in the city, gaining a livelihood by the traffic in young girls and children. Nor was this the only way in which such places were supplied. In times of general scarcity or individual want, parents have been seen leading their own daughters through the streets and offering them for sale. The selling of children, says Cunynghame, one of the most recent visitors to Canton, is an every-day occurrence, and is on the whole a check upon infanticide. The little victims are seen constantly passing on their way to the habitations of their purchasers gaily dressed out as though for some great ceremony or happy festival. Of these, indeed, some are disposed of as concubines, but many also are deliberately sold to be brought up as prostitutes. It is looked upon as a simple mercantile transaction, the children being transferred at once to the brothels, whence they are hired out for the profit of their masters. Some of those who are deserted or exposed to perish are reserved by the agents for these places; but the principal supply is brought by kidnappers. Proclamation after proclamation has been issued to complain of them, but with little effect. The system appears rather on the increase than otherwise.