Widow-marriage is permitted. The widower, accompanied by his relatives
and a horn-blower, goes to the house of the widow, and here a space
is plastered with cowdung and the couple sit on two wooden boards
while their clothes are knotted together. In Balaghat [168] the
bridegroom and bride bathe in a tank and on emerging the widow throws
away her old cloth and puts on a new one. After this they walk five
times round a spear planted in the ground. Divorce is permitted and
can be effected by mutual consent of the parties. Like other castes
practising intensive cultivation the Malis marry several wives when
they can afford it, in order to obtain the benefit of their labour
in the vegetable garden; a wife being more industrious and honest
than a hired labourer. But this practice results in large families
and household dissensions, leading to excessive subdivision of
property, and wealthy members of the caste are rare. The standard
of sexual morality is low, and if an unmarried girl goes wrong her
family conceal the fact and sometimes try to procure an abortion. If
these efforts are unsuccessful a feast must be given to the caste and
a lock of the woman's hair is cut off by way of punishment. A young
hard-working wife is never divorced, however bad her character may be,
but an old woman is sometimes abandoned for very little cause.