But it is not the religion of the Hindoos only, that is unfavorable to
chastity; that of Mahomet which now prevails over a great part of India,
is unfavorable to it likewise. Mahometanism every where indulges men
with a plurality of wives while it ties down the women to the strictest
conjugal fidelity; hence, while the men riot in unlimited variety, the
women are in great numbers confined to share among them the scanty
favors of one man only. This unnatural and impolitic conduct induces
them to seek by art and intrigue, what they are denied by the laws of
their prophet. As polygamy prevails over all Asia, this art and intrigue
follow as the consequence of it; some have imagined, that it is the
result of climate, but it rather appears to be the result of the
injustice which women suffer by polygamy; for it seems to reign, as much
in Constantinople, and in every other place where polygamy is in
fashion, as it does on the banks of the Ganges, or the Indus. The famous
Montesquieu, whose system was, that the passions are entirely regulated
by the climate, brings as a proof of this system, a story from the
collection of voyages for the establishment of an East India Company, in
which it is said, that at Patan, "the wanton desires of the women are so
outrageous, that the men are obliged to make use of a certain apparel to
shelter them from their designs." Were this story really true, it would
be but a partial proof of the effect of climate, for why should the
burning suns of Patan only influence the passions of the fair? Why
should they there transport that sex beyond decency, which in all other
climates is the most decent? And leave in so cool and defensive a state,
that sex, which in all other climates is apt to be the most offensive
and indecent? To whatever length the spirit of intrigue may be carried
in Asia and Africa, however the passions of the women may prompt them to
excite desire, and to throw themselves in the way of gratification, we
have the strongest reasons to reprobate all these stories, which would
make us believe, that they are so lost to decency as to attack the other
sex: such a system would be overturning nature, and inverting the
established laws by which she governs the world.