On this return Mr. Mayne very probably b_The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World

Mr. Talbot, the secretary of the Society for the Protection of Young

Females, made the subject one of special inquiry, both personally and with

the aid of the local police of the different cities; and although his

details are very meagre, he professes to have satisfied himself of the

general accuracy of the following figures, showing the regular prostitutes

in various cities.

Edinburgh 800

Glasgow 1800

Liverpool 2900

Leeds 700

Manchester 700

All parties are, however, agreed in representing that it is impracticable

to form any thing like a correct estimate of "the number of female

servants, milliners, and women in the upper and middle classes of society

who might properly be classed with prostitutes, or of the women who

frequent theatres, barracks, ships, prisons, etc."

In 1851, the police of Dublin published in their statistical returns the

number of prostitutes in that city, which is the only public or official

paper on the point having any appearance of system or accuracy. It is as

follows:

1848 Brothels 385 Prostitutes 1343

1849 " 330 " 1344

1850 " 272 " 1215

1851 " 297 " 1170

This table shows a steady decrease in the number of these women. We are

uninformed as to any local causes for this, nor do we know whether it has

been balanced by an increase of "sly" or occasional prostitution.

From the preceding figures a calculation has been made of the regular

prostitutes relatively to the population in the several towns. It appears

to have been based on the number of inhabitants at the date of the various

estimates. That of Dublin is according to the census of 1851, the

remainder according to that of 1841.

PROPORTION OF PROSTITUTES TO POPULATION.

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

| | | Proportion to Population. |

| | |----------------------------------------|

|----------|------------|------------|-------------|-------------|

|Liverpool | 2900 | 1 to 43 | 1 to 45 | 1 to 88 |

|Manchester| 700 | 1 to 156 | 1 to 169 | 1 to 325 |

|Leeds | 700 | 1 to 70 | 1 to 75 | 1 to 145 |

|Edinburgh | 800 | 1 to 106 | 1 to 130 | 1 to 236 |

|Glasgow | 1800 | 1 to 87 | 1 to 97 | 1 to 184 |

|Dublin | 1170 | 1 to 101 | 1 to 119 | 1 to 220 |

|Cork[311] | 350 | 1 to 113 | 1 to 134 | 1 to 247 |

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

The mean of the above maybe taken as a fair representation of the general

state of the kingdom. The qualifying circumstances to which we have

already made allusion as peculiar to each city or district are, of course,

neutralized by the aggregate.

For example, Liverpool is a great sea-port town, and a large number of

regular prostitutes would be inevitable there. In Manchester, a large

manufacturing city, with an immense pauper and factory operative

population, the trade of prostitution would meet with less profitable

custom; accordingly, we find the proportion much smaller. Glasgow is both

manufacturing and commercial; there, again, the proportion is larger.

Dublin has but little commerce, but is a capital city, and has a court and

a large garrison. The combination of all these circumstances is found in

London, and a fair estimate would be obtained by adding all the preceding

proportions together, which would give a mean of about 1 in 232, and this

upon the population (2,362,000) is within a fraction of ten thousand.

We have seen that Mr. Mayne in 1840 stated his opinion to be that there

were about eight thousand regular prostitutes in London, qualifying that

statement by a profession of total ignorance as to the irregulars who did

not make prostitution their only means of living. Mr. Mayne had peculiar

sources of information open to him, and it is more than probable that his

opinion was well founded. From the above calculation, from the best

sources available to us on this very obscure question, we are satisfied to

assume ten thousand as at least a probable approximation to the number of

_regular_ prostitutes in London.

Mr. Mayne, in his statement on this subject, mentioned that there were

3335 brothels. Some authors have attempted to make a calculation of the

number of prostitutes on the basis of this number of houses; one has

assumed three, another ten. Dr. Wardlaw has fixed upon five women per

house, without, as it appears to us, any precise reason for preferring

that figure. These different opinions may be thus worked out:

5 women in each house would give 16,675 prostitutes.

4 " " " (as in Dublin) would give 13,340 "

3 " " " (as in Cork) " " 10,005 "

We have not been able to obtain Mr. Mayne's statement _ipsissimis verbis_,

and failing that we may be in error, but we should be inclined to think

that, in his official capacity as a magistrate, and in his personal

character as a lawyer, Mr. Mayne would be apt to assign the term "brothel"

indiscriminately to all houses trading in prostitution, whether houses of

assignation or houses in which prostitutes habitually reside. If our

reading of the word "brothels" in this sense be correct, it is clear that

any attempt to enumerate on the basis of the women attached to each house

would be fallacious. The expression used by the Dublin police is "houses

frequented or occupied," and its ambiguity shows that the authorities

there considered the word "brothel" in the sense given to it by English

jurists.

How does this number of ten thousand regular prostitutes bear on the

population?

In London there are, above twenty years of age,

Male. Female.

Bachelors 196,851

Spinsters 246,124

Husbands 398,624

Wives 406,266

Widowers 37,064

Widows 110,028

------- -------

Totals 632,545 762,418

Omitting fractions, the proportions would be,

On bachelors and widowers 1 in 23

" total male population 1 " 63

" " female " 1 " 76

" aggregate population above twenty years of age 1 " 139

This would establish ten thousand as the nucleus of the prostitution

system of London. Those females who come within the designation of

"irregular prostitutes" are in no respect less prejudicial to the

community than the "regulars." The difference is that they have some other

real or nominal occupation, which they follow according to circumstances.

An even moderately correct estimate of their number is little better than

guess-work, and we therefore think it expedient to put our readers in

possession of our own limited means of information, and take them on to a

conclusion. There are so many elements to be taken into the account, and

the data are so scanty, that we only consider ourselves justified in

intimating an opinion rather than announcing a satisfactory conclusion.

To show the extremes to which the doctrine of possibilities may lead in

this development of misery and vice, we will recur to the statement of

some of the London prostitute needle-women themselves. We quote from

Mayhew's letters to the Morning Chronicle:

"I now come to the second test that was adopted in order to verify my

conclusions. This was the convening of such a number of needle-women

and slop-workers as would enable me to arrive at a correct average as

to the earnings of the class. I was particularly anxious to do this,

not only with regard to the more respectable portions of the

operatives, but also with reference to those who, I had been given to

understand, resorted to prostitution in order to eke out their

subsistence. I consulted a friend, who is well acquainted with the

habits and feelings of slop-workers, as to the possibility of

gathering together a number of women who would be willing to state

that they had been forced to take to the streets on account of the low

prices for their work.[312] He told me he was afraid, from the shame

of their mode of life becoming known, it would be almost impossible to

collect together a number of females who would be ready to say as much

publicly. However, it was decided that at least the experiment should

be made, and that every thing should be done to assure the parties of

the strict privacy of the assemblage. It was arranged that this

gentleman and myself should be the only male persons visible on the

occasion, and that the place of meeting should be as dimly lighted as

possible, so they could scarcely see or be seen by one another or by

us. Cards of admission were issued privately, and, to my friend's

astonishment, as many as twenty-five came on the evening named to the

appointed place, intent upon making known the sorrows and sufferings

that had driven them to fly to the streets, in order to get the bread

which the wretched prices paid for their labor would not permit them

to obtain.

"Never in all history was such a sight seen or such tales heard.

There, in the dim haze of the large bare room in which they met, sat

women and girls, some with babies sucking at their breasts, others in

rags, and even those borrowed in order that they might come and tell

their misery to the world. I have witnessed many a scene of sorrow

lately; I have heard stories that have unmanned me; but never, till

last Wednesday, had I heard or seen any thing so solemn, so terrible

as this. If ever eloquence was listened to, it was in the outpourings

of these poor, lorn mothers' hearts for their base-born little ones,

as each told her woes and struggles, and published her shame amid the

convulsive sobs of others--nay, of all present. Behind a screen,

removed from sight, so as not to wound the modesty of the women, who

were nevertheless aware of their presence, sat two reporters from this

journal, to take down _verbatim_ the confessions and declarations of

those assembled, and to them I am indebted for the following report of

the statements made at the meeting."

Then follow a series of most heart-rending statements, all to the same

purport as those quoted in other parts of this work, and bearing all the

internal evidence of truth. The letter concludes with the following

sentence:

"They were unanimous in declaring that a large number of the

trade--probably one fourth of the whole, or one half of those who had

no husbands or parents to support them--resorted to the streets to eke

out a living. Accordingly, assuming the government returns to be

correct, and that there are upward of eleven thousand females under

twenty living by needle and slop work,[313] the numerical amount of

prostitution becomes awful to contemplate."

Thus, then, we have it in evidence that "probably" one fourth of all women

engaged in sewing occupations for a livelihood are compelled to have

occasional recourse to prostitution as their only and compulsory refuge

from starvation.

The number of women engaged in these sewing occupations is enormous.

According to the census of 1851, they constitute, indeed, the main support

of the female working population throughout Great Britain, exclusive of

domestic servants, laundresses, and persons employed in agricultural

pursuits, and in the cotton and linen factories. The figures for the three

kingdoms are as follows:

Hatters 3,500

Straw-hat-makers 20,500

Bonnet-makers 7,600

Cap-makers 4,700

Furriers 1,900

Tailors 17,600

Shawl-makers 3,200

Milliners 267,400

Seamstresses 72,900

Stay-makers 12,700

Stocking-makers 30,700

Glovers 25,300

Case-makers 31,400

In all Great Britain this class numbers 1,787,600

Of whom there are under twenty years of age 458,168

We have not the details of the occupations of London, but the proportion

which the population of the metropolis bears to that of Great Britain is

about one ninth. One ninth of the above aggregate would give for London

about 196,500 women engaged in the sewing trades, all of whom, it may be

assumed, are over fifteen. We omit from the consideration of female trades

those engaged in agricultural pursuits and factories, such occupations

having comparatively few representatives in the metropolitan districts,

although there are more of them than would be supposed. Laundresses are

also omitted, as a very large proportion of them in and about London are,

as is well known, married and middle-aged women. But another class to

which all writers assign a large amount of prostitution are domestic

servants, a body most numerously represented in London. There are in the

metropolis 165,100 domestic servants, the peculiarly unprotected character

of whom, as a class, may be inferred from the singular fact that to the

work-house, the hospital, and the Lunatic Asylum they supply an immense

number of inmates, exceeding that of any other class.

Thus, then, are shown two very large figures, amounting together to

361,000, as the stock from which prostitutes to any extent may be

procured. Some consideration, perhaps, of the ages of prostitutes, and of

other circumstances in the condition of the female population, may enable

us to appreciate the state of the case without being driven to the

necessity of looking on these enormous totals as incapable of reduction.

Nature would indicate the period between 15 and 45 as the age during which

the trade of prostitution must be carried on. Much has been said as to the

means used for decoying young children for purposes of prostitution. Of

the fact we are perfectly convinced, but should think it of little

numerical importance in the aggregate body. The influence of evil

communication on the young is of infinitely greater mischief, and the

extent of youthful depravity from this cause is very great among the

poorer classes, and would oblige us to date the commencing age of

prostitution back to twelve years.

As to the period of life at which the prostitute's career is terminated,

it is contended by some of the English writers that only an infinitesimal

proportion reach the age of forty-five in the exercise of their soul and

health destroying trade. Mr. Tait says, "In less than one year from the

commencement of their wicked career these females bear evident marks of

their approaching decay, and in the course of three years very few can be

recognized by their old acquaintance, if they are so fortunate as to

survive that period. These remarks apply more especially to those who are

above twenty years of age when they join the ranks of the victims." From

the average of Edinburgh, Mr. Tait goes on to assume that "not above one

in eleven survives twenty-five years of age; and taking together those who

persist in vice, and those who, after having abandoned it, die of diseases

which originated from the excesses they were addicted to during its

continuance, perhaps not less than a fifth or sixth of all who have

embraced this course of sin die annually." Dr. Ryan seems to adopt an

opinion that the average duration of life after commencing prostitution is

four years.[314] Captain Miller, of Glasgow, thinks that "the average age

at which women become abandoned is from fifteen to twenty, and the average

duration of women continuing this vice is about five years."

The ages of patients admitted into the Lock Hospital at Edinburgh were as

follows:

Under 15 years 42

From 15 years to 20 years 662

" 20 " " 25 " 199

" 25 " " 30 " 69

" 30 " " 35 " 16

" 35 " " 40 " 6

Over 40 years 6

----

Total 1000

These figures alone would go to make out the presumption that the ages of

prostitutes are between twelve and thirty, and that 861/1000 are between

fifteen and twenty-five. According to the above table, nine tenths of the

number at twenty have disappeared at thirty, and according to Captain

Miller's opinion that "cases of reform and abandonment of their life are

very rare," the conclusion would be that their career ends in death.[315]

The duration of prostitution being ascertained, we would find the number

of women between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. In the whole female

population this is one fifth, but the very aged or the very youthful are

necessarily excluded from the classes of work-women and servants; of

servants, indeed, there are five and upward under twenty to three above

twenty years of age. This, therefore, would indicate very little reduction

of the numbers.

It is reasonable to suppose that some portion of the above are married

women having husbands living, and if so, it is not an unreasonable

supposition that their wives are not obliged to have recourse to

prostitution; in fact, the poor creatures themselves seem to imply that

immunity. The number of wives is about one third of the whole female

population; of these wives about one fourth are employed in trades apart

from those of their husbands. If we deduct only such a proportion from the

sewing-women, it makes something when we have to deal with such enormous

masses; we should strike off nearly 50,000, leaving only 150,000

sewing-women.

There is comfort, however, in the fact that, of these sewing-women, three

fourths are known to be over twenty years of age; and if we only assume

one half instead of three fourths, allowing the other fourth for the

difference between twenty and twenty-five years of age, it brings our

figure down to seventy-five thousand.

All these deductions are, we fear, in excess; and it must be recollected,

moreover, that the above large sums by no means include all the female

occupations of London,[316] but merely those classes which, either from

the temptation incident to their position, or from the imperative demands

of want and necessity, are, by competent authority, supposed to be

peculiarly obnoxious to the risk of prostitution. If to this large number

of women, which we can not assume at less than 273,000 between the ages of

twelve and twenty-five, be added all the other denizens of a great city

unexampled in its magnitude, embracing in itself all the peculiarities of

all other cities, at once a manufacturing, a commercial, a garrison, and a

capital city, and, finally, containing the largest population in the

world, one such item being nearly four hundred thousand single females

over twelve years of age, then, indeed, the mass of misery, wretchedness,

vice, and crime there accumulated appals the mind seeking to grapple with

it, and oppresses us with the apprehension that even eighty thousand, the

highest estimate which has been made, is, when understood to include all

contingencies, not an incredible figure.[317]

Englishmen pride themselves, and, it must be admitted, not without reason,

on their numerous and admirable public charities. In this particular

direction it would seem that public munificence has not been so liberally

displayed as in some others. "Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that

repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons," does not, we fear,

apply to minds and hearts of earthly mould. People, in charitable as in

other institutions, like to see a return for their investment; and,

notwithstanding the immense field for benevolent labor in prostitution,

there is a general impression among both the public and officials that it

is an irretrievably barren waste, and that it is worse than profitless to

squander money and time upon it. The results which have been achieved

would, however, show that the exertions of philanthropy, although not

producing so much fruit as in some other quarters, have not been entirely

vain. In reference to these results, too, it must be borne in mind that

the discipline of the various institutions is severe, and even repellent,

a policy ill adapted to insure a large amount of success.

The Lock Hospital is the oldest institution in London for the benefit of

lost females, and is devoted entirely to the cure of venereal disease. It

was founded in the year 1747, and in a century had cured 45,448 cases.

The Magdalen Hospital of London was founded in 1758, and up to January,

1844, had received 6968 females. The results were as follows:

Reconciled to their friends, or placed in service or

other reputable employment 4752

Discharged at their own request 1182

" for improper conduct 720

Died 109

Sent to other institutions (being insane or afflicted

with incurable diseases) 107

Eloped 2

Remaining in the Hospital 96

----

Total 6968

A considerable number of the women, when discharged from the institution,

are under twenty years of age; and it is an invariable rule not to dismiss

any one (unless at her own desire, or for misconduct) without some means

being provided by which she may obtain a livelihood in an honest manner.

The Lock Asylum was founded in 1787, for the reception of penitent female

patients when discharged from the Lock Hospital; and up to March, 1837,

the number of women received was 984. The results were:

Reconciled to their friends 170

Placed in service or employment 281

Died 22

Remaining in Asylum 18

---

Total 491

Of the remaining number, many had been sent to their parishes; some had

eloped, and some had been expelled for improper conduct, but of several

even of these favorable accounts had been afterward received: some of them

were known to be married, and living creditably, and others were earning a

living honestly. We have been unable to obtain any account of the

operations of this institution since the year 1837.

The London Female Penitentiary was instituted in 1807. Of 6939 applicants,

2717 were admitted into the house. The results were:

Reconciled and restored to friends, placed

in service, or otherwise provided for 1543

Discharged from various causes 631

" at their own request 350

Emigrated 47

Sent to their parishes 23

Died 28

Remaining in Penitentiary 95

----

Total 2717

The Guardian Society was established in 1812, and from that period up to

1843 had admitted 1932 wretched outcasts to partake of the advantages it

offered. The results were:

Restored to their friends 533

Placed in service, or satisfactorily provided for 455

Discharged or withdrawn 843

Sent to their parishes 53

Died 17

Remaining in institution 31

----

Total 1932

Besides these institutions, others have been established with similar

objects, namely, The British Penitent Female Refuge, The Female Mission,

The South London Penitentiary, and one or two others. As compared with the

great number of unfortunate women in London, these institutions have

effected but a very small amount of good. During seventy-seven years,

ending 1835, ten thousand and five females were received within the walls

of four of the London asylums, of which number six thousand two hundred

and sixty-two (more than three fifths) were satisfactorily provided for,

and two thousand nine hundred and eighty were discharged for misconduct.

Taking the whole of the institutions in London up to that time, it may be

fairly estimated that fourteen or fifteen thousand prostitutes have had

the opportunity of returning to a virtuous life.

Those who, like the Pharisee, content themselves with thanking God that

they are not as other men, and even as these unfortunates, are a very

impracticable set to deal with, and if such there be who read these pages,

we pass them by, and pray for the better health of their souls. The gentle

spirits who, imitating a blessed example, think it not pollution to extend

their sympathy and saving help to publicans and harlots, may, in the

following lines, written by a prostitute and found in her death-bed, see

matter for meditation, and ground for the belief that all efforts in the

cause of the sinner will not be unsuccessful. They were headed

"VERSES FOR MY TOMB-STONE, IF EVER I SHOULD HAVE ONE.

"The wretched victim of a quick decay,

Relieved from life, on humble bed of clay,

The last and only refuge for my woes,

A love-lost, ruined female, I repose.

From the sad hour I listened to his charms,

And fell, half forced, in the deceiver's arms,

To that whose awful veil hides every fault,

Sheltering my sufferings in this welcome vault,

When pampered, starved, abandoned, or in drink,

_My thoughts were racked in striving not to think_

Nor could rejected conscience claim the power

To improve the respite of one serious hour.

I durst not look to what I was before;

My soul shrank back, and wished to be no more.

Of eye undaunted, and of touch impure,

Old ere of age, worn out when scarce mature;

Daily debased to stifle my disgust

Of forced enjoyment in affected lust;

Covered with guilt, infection, debt, and want,

My home a brothel, and the streets my haunt,

For seven long years of infamy I've pined,

And fondled, loathed, and preyed upon mankind,

Till, the full course of sin and vice gone through,

My shattered fabric failed at twenty-two."

The enormous extent of this evil, its deep-rooted causes, the difficulty

of combating it, either by religious arguments, legislative provisions, or

appeals to common sense and physical welfare, may well deter the

philanthropist from the attempt to purify this stable of Augeas; but

benevolence has accomplished tasks as arduous, and we can not conclude

this chapter better than by a short description of the discouragements

which attended the first efforts of Mrs. Fry in the reformation of the

prostitute felons in Newgate, and of the blessed results of her

indomitable perseverance and immovable faith.[318]

This admirable woman, on her first visit to Newgate, found the female side

of the jail in a condition which no language can describe: "Nearly three

hundred women, sent there for every gradation of crime, and some under

sentence of death, were crowded together in two small wards and two cells.

They all slept, as well as a crowd of children, on the floor, at times one

hundred and twenty in a ward, without even a mat for bedding. Many of them

were nearly naked. They were all drunk, and her ears were offended by the

most terrible imprecations." The authorities of the prison, of course,

advised her against going among them: _they were sure that nothing could

be effected_! She, however, determined to make the trial; she went alone

into what she felt was like a den of wild beasts. In vain the governor

reasoned with her: "She had put her hand to the plow and was not to be

turned back." In one short month, such was the effect of her merely _moral

agency_ and religious instruction, that she felt herself justified in

inviting the lord-mayor, the sheriffs, and several of the aldermen to

satisfy themselves, by personal investigation, of the result of the

exertions which she herself and some few lady members of the Society of

Friends, who had joined her in the good work, had effected.

Thus was conviction forced upon the obtuse intellects of corporate

authorities, and hence was dated the era of Prison Reform in England.

In our own country, where the means of diffusing intelligence are

unbounded, and whose reformatory system for criminals has already claimed

the attention of European statesmen and philanthropists, there can be no

insuperable barrier even in so difficult an undertaking as that to which

our labors are directed. Paraphrasing the opinion of one of the most

distinguished essayists of this century,[319] we venture to assert that

"it is impossible that social abuses should be suffered to exist in this

country and in this stage of society for many years after their mischief

and iniquity have been made manifest to the sense of the country at

large."

CHAPTER XXVI.

GREAT BRITAIN.--SYPHILITIC DISEASES.

First Recognition in England.--Regulations of Henry VI.--Lazar

Houses.--John of Gaddesden.--Queen Elizabeth's Surgeon.--Popular

Opinions.--Proclamation of James IV. of Scotland.--Middlesex and

London Hospitals.--Army.-Navy.--Merchant Service.--St. Bartholomew's

Hospital.--Estimated Extent of Syphilis.

The best English and French writers are of opinion that syphilis, as it

exists at present, has, in some shape or another, always existed among

mankind, although it was not known to science or history, in a distinct

manner, until the middle of the fifteenth century.

The period at which syphilis first made its appearance in England is

involved in obscurity, but we know that it began to attract attention

early in the fifteenth century. The first official recognition of it found

on record is a police regulation of the year 1430, during the reign of

Henry VI., excluding venereal patients from the London hospitals, and

requiring them to be strictly guarded at night. In the time of Henry VIII.

there were six lazar houses in London for the reception of venereal

patients, namely, at Knightsbridge, Hammersmith, Highgate, Kingsland, St.

George's Gate, and Mile-End. These localities were doubtless fixed upon as

being some distance from the city.

That the disease, however, must have been known long before the period

above specified is certain, from passages which are to be found in the

writings of the previous century. John of Gaddesden, who wrote in 1305,

and who was a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, thus speaks of the

possibility of contracting the disease from leprous women: "Ille qui

concubuit cum muliere cum qua coivit leprosas puncturas intra carnem et

corium sentil et aliquando calefactiones in toto corpore."[320] Mr. Wm.

Acton, upon whose pages as an English standard writer on this subject we

draw largely, is of opinion that leprosy, which was formerly so common in

Europe, consisted merely of what we now call secondary syphilis. Some of

the Jewish observances were no doubt dictated by a scientific appreciation

of the influences which predisposed the body to the effects of syphilitic

virus. The practice of circumcision seems instituted with a direct view

to the preservation of the chosen people from venereal contagion, to

which, in a hot climate, and with the extreme deficiency of means for

general cleanliness, they would be liable.

As to the type of the disease in former times, there seems no ground for

believing that it was more severe than at present, while its numerical

importance must have been much smaller. The following extract is from a

treatise by Queen Elizabeth's surgeon:

"If I be not deceived in my opinion, I suppose the disease itself was

never more rife in Naples, Italie, France, or Spain, than it is in

this day in the realme of England. I may speak boldly because I speak

truly; and yet I speake it with grief of minde, that in the Hospital

of St. Bartholomew, in London, there hath been cured of this disease

by me and three others, within five years, to the number of one

thousand and more. I speak nothing of St. Thomas's Hospital, and other

houses about the citie, wherein an infinite number are daily cured. It

happened very seldom in the Hospital of St. Bartholomew while I staid

there, among every twenty diseased that were taken into the said

house, which was most commonly on the Monday, ten of them were

infected with the _lues venerea_."[321]

It was supposed, in former ages, that syphilis was transmissible by

personal communication, touching the clothes, drinking out of the same

vessels, or even breathing the same air with infected persons, and

accordingly we find the lower orders of people driven out into the fields

to die, and physicians refusing to attend the sick for fear of infection.

Some writers, indeed, doubted this kind of contagious influence, and held

that it required intercourse, or at least contact. But nobles, and

especially the clergy, preferred to ascribe their maladies to misfortune

rather than to licentiousness, and sought to "put down" such innovating

doctrines. The consequence was that patients were shunned universally, and

left to die or get well without assistance. It is not to be wondered at,

therefore, that in numerous instances the disease should assume its most

inveterate aspect, and hence the notices found among many old writers as

to the supposed malignancy and incurability of what they were disposed to

consider a newly-imported malady. That the disease, in reality, differed

little from that which exists in our day, is proved by the fact that cases

of the once formidable Black Lion are occasionally to be met with in the

London hospitals.

Cardinal Wolsey, among other charges made against him by his enemies, was

accused of whispering to the king, Henry VIII., and thereby casting his

poisonous breath upon his royal grace, he (Wolsey) having at the time "the

foul contagious disease" upon him. The belief as to contagion by this

means is not entirely extinct, but is cherished by the laboring classes of

England, many of whom entertain great prejudices on the score of health

against drinking from the same vessel out of which an infected person has

partaken.

In 1497, James IV. of Scotland, in consequence of the frightful prevalence

of venereal disease in his kingdom, issued a proclamation banishing the

infected from Edinburgh. His majesty "charges straitly all manner of

persons being within the freedom of this burt, quilks are infectit, or has

been infectit, uncurit with this said contagious plague, callit the

grandgor devoyd, red and pass furt of this town, and compeir upon the

sandis of Leith at ten hours before none; and thair sall thai have and

find boatis reddie in the havin ordainit to them by the officers of this

burt, reddy furneist with victuals, to have them to the Inche (Inchkeith),

and thair to remain quhill God provyd for thair health." Those evading

this ordinance "salle be byrnt on the cheik with the marking irne, that

thai may be kennit in tym to cum."

A remnant of this barbarous system was retained in the regulations of

Middlesex Hospital, London, by which an admission fee of forty shillings

sterling (ten dollars) was directed to be paid by venereal patients. The

reason assigned for it was, that a hospital intended for the virtuous

might not be made subsidiary to purposes of vice. The regulation, however,

became a nullity, and was repealed, owing principally to the fact that the

work-house guardians were in the habit of paying the forty shillings and

sending in pauper patients, well knowing that the cost of cure in the

work-house would far exceed the admission fees.

In the London Hospital a similar regulation exists even now, but is openly

evaded, however, by the house surgeon describing the disease as a

cutaneous one.

The extent of this disease in Great Britain is matter of opinion alone.

There are no positive data whatever upon which to form any conclusion with

respect to the general population, while the hospital lists are very

imperfectly kept, and it is only in the army and navy returns that we can

find any real assistance.

BRITISH ARMY.

The army reports quoted extend over a period of seven years and a quarter,

and enter into the details of the various venereal affections of the

soldiers, amounting to the aggregate strength of 44,611 quartered in the

United Kingdom. The cases admitted into hospitals were:

Syphilis Primary 1415

" Consecutive 335

Ulcer Penis non Syphiliticum 2144

Bubo Simplex 844

Cachexia Syphilitica 44

Gonorrhoea 2449

Hernia Humoralis 714

Stricture Urethra 100

Phymosis and Paraphymosis 27

----

Total 8072

Ratio: 181 per 1000 men, or nearly one in five in the whole number.

These returns show that the venereal disease is of much more frequent

occurrence in the British than in the Belgian army.

BRITISH NAVY.

The navy reports extend over a period of seven years, and include 21,493

men, employed on home service; that is to say, on the coasts or in the

ports of Great Britain. Of this number, 2880 were attacked with venereal

disease. Ratio: one in seven.

BRITISH MERCHANT SERVICE.

The returns of the "Dreadnought," hospital ship for seamen of all nations,

extend over a period of five years, during which 13,081 patients, laboring

under surgical and medical diseases, were admitted. Out of these, 3703

came under treatment for venereal affections, showing a ratio of two in

seven.

As a mode of testing these returns, we turn to the analysis of the

surgical out-patients of Messrs. Lloyd and Wormald, assistant surgeons of

Saint Bartholomew's, the largest of the London hospitals. These

out-patients are attended gratuitously by the hospital officers:

+-----------------------------------------------------+

| | Venereal Cases. |

| Attended by |---------------------------------------|

|-------------|--------|---------------------|--------|

| Mr. Lloyd | 1009 | 245 | 1254 |

| Mr. Wormald | 986 | 273 | 1259 |

| |--------|---------------------|--------|

| Total | 1995 | 518 | 2513 |

+-----------------------------------------------------+

These cases were part of a total of 5327 general patients.

This last item alone would not enable one to form any idea of the number

of sufferers from this terrible scourge. There are in London nine great

hospitals, besides smaller ones, and dispensaries in every parish, or

division of a large parish, and other means of gratuitous medical

assistance. Suppose the smaller medical foundations put aside, and their

patients thrown into the aggregate of the great hospitals, we should have

22,617 venereal patients. Suppose the private practice of the London army

of medical men to yield only half as many more, we have 35,000 venereal

patients in London only. Without reckoning the Lock Hospital, parish

doctors, barracks, and all the other institutions, one would very readily

imagine that London alone furnished 50,000 venereal patients per annum.

Again, on the number of single men and widowers in London above twenty

years of age (upward of a quarter of a million), the venereal cases, if in

the same proportion as among soldiers and sailors, would in the same

period amount to 30,000 and upward.

There is, however, another way of conjecturing the amount of disease

introduced into the community by prostitution, which English writers have

adopted. The Medico-Chirurgical Review, a periodical of high standing,

speaking of the extent of venereal disease and its effects on the

population, says:

"There is every reason to believe that, to represent the public

prostitutes of England, Wales, and Scotland, fifty thousand is an

estimate too low. We presume there will be no objection made to the

assumption that, unless each of these fifty thousand prostitutes

submitted to at least one act of intercourse during every twenty-four

hours, she could not obtain means sufficient to support life. The

result of the evidence contained in the first report of the

Constabulary force of England was that about two per cent. of the

prostitutes of London were suffering under some form of venereal

disease. But yet we will descend even lower, and presume that of one

hundred healthy prostitutes, if each submits to one indiscriminate

sexual act in twenty-four hours, not more than one would become

infected with syphilis; an estimate which is, without doubt, far too

low, yet, if admitted to be correct, the necessary consequence will

be, that of the fifty thousand prostitutes, five hundred are diseased

within the aforesaid twenty-four hours.

"If we next admit that a fifth of these five hundred diseased women

are admitted to hospitals on the day on which disease appears, it

follows there are every day on the streets four hundred diseased

women. Let it be supposed that the power of these four hundred to

infect be limited to twelve days, and that of every six persons who,

at the rate of one each night, have connection with these women, five

become infected, it will follow that _there will be four thousand men

infected every night, and, consequently, one million four hundred and

sixty thousand in the year_. Farther, as there are every night four

hundred women diseased by these men, one hundred and eighty-two

thousand five hundred public prostitutes will be syphilized during the

year, and hence _one million, six hundred, and fifty-two thousand,

five hundred cases of syphilis in both sexes occur every twelve

months_. If, then, the entire population had intercourse with

prostitutes in an equal ratio, the gross population of Great Britain,

of all ages and sexes, would, during eighteen years, have been

affected with primary syphilis. Be it remembered, we do not assert

that more than a million and a half of persons are attacked every

year, but that that number of cases occur annually in England, Wales,

and Scotland, though the same individual may be attacked more than

once. Although it is evident that all the estimates used for these

calculations are (we know no other word that expresses it)

ridiculously low, yet we find that more than a million and a half

cases of syphilis occur every year, an amount which is probably not

half the actual number. How enormous, then, must be the number of

children born with secondary syphilis! how immense the mortality among

them! how vast an amount of public and private money expended in the

cure of this disease!"

CHAPTER XXVII.

MEXICO.

Spanish Conquest.--Treatment of Female Prisoners.--Mexican Manners in

1677.--Priesthood.--Modern Society.--Fashionable Life.--Indifference

of Husbands to their Wives.--General Immorality.--Offenses.--

Charitable Institutions.--The Cuna, or Foundling Hospital.

The social condition of Mexico is of importance, as it was formerly the

chief seat of Spanish domination in America, and its manners and

government gave the key to all the other colonies and viceroyalties which

owed allegiance to the crown of Spain. Whatever the state of the native

population may have been when Spanish leaders and their myrmidons burst

upon them, and broke up the kingdom of the Mexican emperors, they rapidly

succumbed beneath the lust, avarice, and cruelty which were ever the

distinctive features of Spanish warfare and conquest in every clime and

against every people. Of the enormities perpetrated by these soldiers, the

history of the Mexican conquest gives us innumerable instances; but one

solitary example, from Bernal de Diaz, will be enough. He tells us that

when they took women prisoners, they made a division of them at night for

the sake of greater peace and quietness, and that they branded them with

the marks of their owners. They were thus at liberty to choose the

handsomest of the Indian women, and reserve them for their own uses. What

these uses were can be easily supposed. The fate of less favored female

prisoners is left in doubt; they were turned over to their savage allies,

to be butchered in cold blood, or otherwise disposed of as most

convenient.

From Mexico the flood of Spanish cruelty and immorality spread itself like

a stream of lava over the whole of South America. The chivalry of the

soldiery soon degenerated, and the self-denial and lofty motives, darkened

though they were by bigotry and cruelty in some cases, which had

distinguished the priests, were lost. Inglorious ease and luxurious

indolence now superseded that love of adventure and unconquerable daring

which distinguished Cortez and Pizarro, and their comrades: no trace of

the old heroic character remained save the grinding oppression and

reckless selfishness which usually accompany ambition.

An illustration of the loose manners which prevailed in Mexico among the

clergy is to be found in the voyages of Thomas Page, a Dominican monk, who

visited Mexico with some of his order on their road to the western coast

of America and to Asia as missionaries.

From this work, published in 1677, we learn that the writer and his

companions visited the prior of Vera Cruz on their journey, and, after a

sumptuous dinner, adjourned, by invitation, to his cell. They found it

richly tapestried and adorned with feathers of the birds of Michoacou; the

walls were hung with various pictures of merit; rich rugs of silk covered

the tables; porcelain of China filled the cupboards and sideboards, and

there were vases and bowls containing preserved fruits and sweetmeats. "My

companions," says he, "were scandalized by such an exhibition. The holy

friar talked to us of his ancestry, of his good parts, of the influence he

had with the Father Provincial, of the love the principal ladies of the

place bore him, of his beautiful voice and skill in music. He took his

guitar and sang us a sonnet in praise of a certain lady." Afterward,

speaking of the Franciscans of Jalapa, Thomas Page says: "Their lives are

so free and immodest that it might be suspected with reason that they had

renounced only that which they could not obtain." After witnessing a

gambling scene in a convent, he concludes that "the cause of so many

Friars and Jesuits passing from Spain to regions so distant was

libertinage rather than love of preaching the Gospel."

The same writer subsequently passes from portraiture to more general

delineation, and thus depicts the body of the clergy: "It seems that all

wickedness is allowable, so that the churches and clergy flourish. Nay,

while the purse is open to lasciviousness, if it be also open to enrich

the temple walls and roof, it is better than any holy water.... In their

lifetime the Mexicans strive to excel one another in their gifts to the

cloisters of nuns and friars."

"Among the benefactors was one, Alonzo Cuellar, so rich that he was

reported to have a closet in his house laid with bars of gold instead

of bricks. This man built a nunnery for Franciscan nuns, which cost

him thirty thousand ducats, and left to it two thousand dollars

yearly. And yet his life was so scandalous that commonly in the night,

with two servants, he would go round the city visiting scandalous

persons, and at every house letting fall a bead and tying a knot, that

when he came home in the morning, he might number, by his beads, the

uncivil stations he had visited that night.

"Great alms and liberality toward religious houses are coupled with

great and scandalous wickedness. They wallow in the bed of riches and

wealth, and make their alms the coverlet to conceal their loose and

lascivious lives....

"I will not speak much of the lives of the friars and nuns of this

city, but only that they enjoy there more liberty than in Europe,

where they have too much, and that surely the scandals committed by

them do cry up to heaven for vengeance, judgment, and destruction.

"It is ordinary for the friars to visit their devoted nuns, and to

spend whole days with them, hearing their music and feeding on their

sweetmeats. For this purpose they have many chambers, which they call

loquatories, to talk in, with wooden bars between the nuns and them,

and in these chambers are tables for the friars to dine at, and while

they dine the nuns recreate them with their voices."

We need no addition to these deep shadows from the dark pencil of so

vigorous a limner as worthy Thomas Page, to delineate character nearly two

hundred years ago, but we can scarcely believe it equally applicable to

the present day. The reign of oppression in Mexico, it is to be hoped, is

approaching its end, and recent events have shown that the population is

alive to some of those truths which were long ago patent to all the world

except those most intimately concerned.

Of modern Mexican society, an accomplished female writer, who had the best

opportunities of judging, says:

"It is long before a stranger even suspects the state of morals in

this country, for, whatever be the private conduct of individuals,

the most perfect decorum prevails in outward behavior. But indolence

is the mother of vice. They rarely gossip to strangers about their

neighbors' faults. Habit has rendered them tolerably indifferent as to

the _liaisons_ subsisting among particular friends, and as long as a

woman attends church regularly, is a patroness of charitable

institutions, and gives no scandal by her outward behavior, she may do

pretty much as she pleases. As for flirtations in public, they are

unknown."[322]

The present amiability of the Mexican ladies is admitted on all hands, as

is the genial warmth of their manner. Some travelers, indeed, and among

them Mr. Waddy Thompson, are of opinion that this is attributed to them as

a fault, and that the reproach of unchastity is unjustly urged against

them, as there is no city in Europe where there is less immorality. The

constant presence of a duenna, and the house-porter, who is an

appurtenance of every household of respectability, are excellent checks on

immorality. But this would rather argue the necessity of a safeguard not

found in the female virtue of Mexico. Besides, these appendages of rank

have lost their real meaning, and the duenna may be converted into the

convenient cloak or abettor of an intrigue, the more safe as she is the

supposed protectress of the husband's honor. A native writer, in summing

up the character of his countrymen, says that "they are moderate in

eating, but their passion for liquor is carried to the greatest excess.

The affection which husbands bear their wives is certainly much less than

that borne by wives to their husbands, and _it is very common for the men

to love their neighbors' wives better than their own_."[323] This

one-sided censure presupposes, as a necessary consequence, that the

neighbors' wives must show some reciprocity.

The general immorality of the lower classes in Mexico would almost exclude

the expectation of a system of prostitution, as we usually understand the

term. Puebla, a manufacturing town near Mexico, is summarily described as

having a most devout female population, and a most abandoned one; but this

is matter of conduct rather than of calling. The enumeration of offenses

in the justice list of Mexico does not tell of one prostitute, although it

contains a large number of persons guilty of "incontinence." The exact

meaning of this offense, in its legal and technical sense, is not given

us, but we presume it relates to improper and disgusting practices. The

charge of "violation of public decency," although it may relate to mutual

familiarities, will probably include both indecency and immorality.

The following table gives the number of persons arrested in the city of

Mexico in 1851.

+------------------------------------------------------+

|----------------------------|--------|--------|-------|

|Drunkenness | 1256 | 1944 | 3200 |

|Affrays and wounds | 728 | 246 | 974 |

|Incontinence | 354 | 403 | 757 |

|Violations of public decency| 311 | 318 | 629 |

|Robbery | 384 | 120 | 504 |

|Suspicion of robbery | 180 | 84 | 264 |

|Carrying weapons | 209 | 85 | 294 |

|Picking pockets | 120 | 25 | 145 |

|False pretenses | 39 | 17 | 56 |

|Breaking prison | 36 | ... | 36 |

|Murder | 15 | 3 | 18 |

| |--------|--------|-------|

| Total | 3632 | 3245 | 6877 |

+------------------------------------------------------+

Among a population of inferior intellect, and with the excess of women

always to be found in tropical countries, the character of the priesthood

becomes of primary importance. On this particular, some writers are of

opinion that what was written in 1677 will apply with almost equal force

in the present day; a position certainly open to doubt.[324]

The lower orders of the priests and friars in Mexico are generally

uneducated and frequently licentious. The most revolting spectacles of

vice and immorality are exhibited by some of them. They are remarkable for

the _roue_ appearance they present, but they can not be considered types

of the class, for the higher orders and respectable members of the

priesthood are exempt from the imputation of such flagrant immorality.

Even these are not blameless members of the Church. Many of them have

nephews and nieces in their houses, or at least those who call them uncle,

but to whom scandal ascribes a closer relationship.

Among the charitable institutions in Mexico, perhaps the most important is

the _Cuna_, or Foundling Hospital. It is supported by private individuals,

and the members of the society consist of the first persons in the

capital, male and female. The men furnish the money; the women give their

time and attention. When a child has been about a month in the hospital,

it is sent with an Indian nurse to one of the adjacent villages; but if

sick or feeble, it remains in the institution, under the immediate

inspection of the society. These nurses are subject to a responsible

person, who lives in the village and answers for their good conduct. The

child is brought back to the hospital when weaned, and remains in its

charge for life. Few, however, are left to grow up in the asylum; they are

adopted by respectable persons, who bring them up either as servants or as

their own children. In this, as in other institutions of the same

character, the mothers of the children often get themselves hired as

nurses. There are usually five or six hundred children in this

asylum.[325]

CHAPTER XXVIII.

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA.

Low moral Condition.--San Salvador.--Guatemala.--Yucatan.--Costa

Rica.--Honduras.--The Caribs.--Depravity in Peru and Chili.--"Children

of the House."--Intrigue in Lima.--Infanticide.--Laxity of Morals in

Brazil and Paraguay.--Foundling Hospital at Rio Janeiro.

The whole peninsula of South America, and the states comprised in Central

America, are involved in the same social system with Mexico, derived as

they are by common origin from pure or mixed Spanish blood. The same

political circumstances and organization have always affected the various

territorial divisions, and whether we consider the semi-civilized nations

of ancient Peru and its dependencies, or the savage tribes in the valleys

of the Amazon and the La Plata, we find them, after the first irruption of

Spanish conquerors, victims of indiscriminate oppression, insatiable

avarice, and unsparing lust. South America was long considered a mere

treasure-field of the Spanish monarchy, to be worked without liability to

account by every adventurer who chose to encounter the hardships of

foreign travel, or the perils of residence in a tropical climate and amid

hostile savages.

The natives far outnumbered their masters, and the same ruthless system of

depression was extended to them as to Mexico. The consequence was, that

before the lapse of many generations from the Conquest, there were but two

classes throughout the vast Spanish territories--masters and slaves. The

natural and inevitable result of servile institutions could not long be

postponed. The descendants of the conquerors rapidly degenerated, and

imbecility and incapacity took the places of heroism and ability. The

original hardihood and daring, which had vanquished uncounted enemies, had

traversed unknown wilds, had defied every danger, were lost in

voluptuousness and self-indulgence. The posterity of those men who had

discovered a new world, and swayed the destinies of the old by a nod or

the stroke of a pen, were unable to protect themselves against the weak

ministers of a worn-out despotism, or against any unscrupulous demagogue

who could rally a band of roving Indians around him, and maraud the

peaceable and well-disposed. A state of political degradation reigned

supreme over the whole of South America, only to be paralleled by the

debasement of its social condition.

In Central America, including San Salvador, Guatemala, Yucatan, Costa

Rica, and Honduras, the condition of the women is very much the same as in

Mexico. The statements of travelers in those little-frequented regions are

very vague in reference to the subject of public morality, and give us no

reliable or detailed information on the specialities which would be of

service in this inquiry. In Yucatan, the ladies are said to be somewhat

more domesticated than their Mexican neighbors, and to interest themselves

in the management of their households and the education of their children;

but still the standard of morality is not very high, if measured by United

States habits and ideas.[326] In the neighboring republic of Guatemala,

the free manners prevalent in the country districts of the kindred

territories are usually met with;[327] but these would rather indicate low

ideas of decency than any actual immorality. Difference of climate and of

race would make many things tolerable, or even reputable, which our colder

skies and more rigid notions would totally exclude from the observances of

civilized society.

The Indian populations of South America have become so completely slaves

during long years of bondage that they have lost their prominent

characteristics,[328] and are but a reflex of their masters in the lowest

state of ignorance. The women may be generally described as of very loose

morals, yet kind and gentle unless roused by jealousy, in which case they

can use the knife as promptly as their male friends. It is said they make

very affectionate mothers.

There are a few tribes who have preserved some semblance of nationality.

The Caribs of Honduras are a hardy and athletic race. Polygamy is general

among them, three or four wives being a not uncommon number. The husband

is compelled to have a separate house and plantation for each, and, if he

make one a present, he must give the others something of equal value. He

must also divide his time among them, giving a week to each in succession.

When a Carib takes a wife, he fells a plantation and builds a house; the

wife then takes the management, and he becomes a gentleman. The women

attend their plantations with great care, and, in the course of twelve or

fifteen months, have every description of breadstuff under cultivation.

About Christmas they engage several creers, and freight them with produce

for Truxillo and Belize, hiring their husbands and others as sailors. It

is also the custom, when a woman can not do all the work required on her

plantation, for her to engage her husband as a laborer, and pay him two

dollars per week. Industry and forethought are peculiar traits of the

Carib women, consequently they easily surround themselves with necessaries

and comforts.

The data bearing on the proportion of the sexes in the aggregate

population, although too imperfect to be worth presenting, yet go to show

that, as in Mexico, there is a considerable preponderance of females.[329]

The disproportion in births is not so great as in deaths; for, while the

number of males and females born is nearly equal, more of the former than

the latter die annually. There are more old women than old men,

ascribable, no doubt, to the greater sobriety of the women, drunkenness

being a vice which, under the tropics, is rapid in its consequences. In

Nicaragua the women number two to one of the male population. The

Department of Cuscatlan in San Salvador has an excess of 1838 women over

men, and of 1709 boys over girls.

Peru and Chili, though neighboring countries, and both in the strip of

western coast between the Andes and the sea, present considerable

difference of condition. Chili is rapidly rising in political importance

by means of the internal energy of the people, and the development of

natural resources by native and foreign enterprise and capital.

It has been asserted by resident eye-witnesses that female virtue was at

so low an ebb in Chili within a few years, that in most families, even of

good standing, there were one or more children who were called "children

of the house," and whose parentage was distributed generally among the

ladies of the family. Nay, we have heard that the rites of hospitality

sometimes included civilities in respect to the females which are usually

considered as peculiar to certain Oriental nations. A rapid change for the

better is, however, taking place in these usages, and even the sea-port of

Valparaiso is described by Wilkes as being greatly improved from the

period of his first visit, when few sailors left it without having lost

both their money and health among its women.

Peru has made but little advance in its recent political changes. The

government is in a state of continual anarchy. A new mine of wealth has

been discovered in the guano deposits of the Chincha Islands, which has

attracted great numbers of foreign vessels to its shores. But the wealth

acquired from this source has done little for the people. Lima, the

capital, has long been remarkable for the levity and dissipation of its

inhabitants. The very dress of the ladies, which may have been originally

intended to insure seclusion and privacy, has become an emblem of

intrigue. It consists of a peculiar hood and petticoat, covering the

wearer entirely, who, when thus in domino, is styled _tapada_, and is, by

common usage, held to be secure from all impertinent interference or

insult. The same term is applied to a shawl worn over the head, so as to

cover the mouth and forehead. Under this concealment the wearer is known

only to the most intimate friends, and ladies thus attired frequent the

theatres. It is favorable to intrigue, and so perfect is the security that

any place of amusement may be visited with impunity, and, even if

suspected by the husband or relative, she is protected from discovery by

the respect attached to the custom.

Dr. Tschudi draws a very cheerless picture of the state and prospects of

Peru.[330] Its moral degradation is significantly typified in the decline

of its population, which has been continually diminishing since the

establishment of its independence. That noble land, which contained an

enormous population at the time of the Conquest, numbered in 1836 less

than 1,400,000 inhabitants; not so many as were formerly found in the

department of Cusco alone. The deaths in Lima vary annually from 2500 to

2800 out of a population of 53,000; in the ten months from January 1st to

October 31st, 1841, they were 2244, the births in that period being 1682,

of which 860 were illegitimate.

"Not less remarkable than the number of illegitimate children is that

of the new-born infants exposed and found dead (495). These afford the

most striking proofs of the immorality which prevails in Lima,

especially among the colored people. To them belong nearly two thirds

of the illegitimate births, and fully four fifths of the children cast

out to die. There is reason to suspect, though it can not be

positively proved, that no small portion of the latter suffer a

violent death by the hands of their mothers. When a dead child is

picked up before the church of San Lazaro, or in the street, it is

carried, without a word of inquiry, to the Pantheon; frequently it is

not even thought worth while to bury it. I have seen the vultures

dragging about the sweltering carcasses of infants, and devouring them

in populous streets. * * * * On comparing the lists of births and

deaths from 1826 to 1842, I satisfied myself that the annual excess of

the latter over the former averages 550.

"The women of Lima are far superior to the men, both corporeally and

intellectually, though their conduct in many respects is any thing but

exemplary. They cling with invincible tenacity to the use of their

national walking garb, the _saya y manto_, in which they take their

pleasure in the streets, making keen play with the one eye they leave

uncovered, and quite secure in that disguise from detection, even by

the most jealous scrutiny. The veil is inviolable; any man who should

attempt to pluck off a woman's _manto_ would be very severely handled

by the populace. The history of their lives comprises two phases: in

the full bloom of their fascinating beauty their time is divided

between doing naught and naughty doings; when their charms are on the

wane, they take to devotion and scandal. A young lady of Lima rises

late, dresses her hair with orange or jasmine flowers, and waits for

breakfast, after which she receives or pays visits. During the heat of

the day she swings in a hammock or reclines on a sofa, smoking a

cigar. After dinner she again pays visits, and finishes the evening

either in the theatre, or the Plaza, or on the bridge. Few ladies

occupy themselves with needlework or netting, though some of them

possess great skill in those arts.

"The pride which the fair Limeñas take in their dainty little feet

knows no bounds. Walking, sitting, or standing, swinging in the

hammock or lying on the sofa, they are ever watchful to let their

tiny feet be seen. Praise of their virtue, their intelligence, or

their beauty, sounds not half so sweetly in their ears as encomiums

bestowed on their pretty feet. They take the most scrupulous care of

them, and avoid every thing that might favor their enlargement. A

large foot (_pataza Inglesa_--an English foot, as they say) is an

abomination to them. I once heard a beautiful European lady deservedly

extolled by some fair dames of Lima, but they wound up their eulogy

with these words: "_Pero que pie! valgame Dio, sparece una lancha!_"

(but what a foot! Good heavens, it is like a great boat!) and yet the

foot in question would by no means have been thought large in Europe.

"The Limeñas possess, in an extraordinary degree, talents which

unhappily are seldom cultivated as they should be. They have great

penetration, sound judgment, and very correct views respecting the

most diversified affairs of life. Like the women of Seville, they are

remarkable for their quick and pointed repartees, and a Limeña is sure

never to come off second best in a war of words. They possess a rare

firmness of character, and a courage not generally given to their sex.

In these respects they are far superior to the dastardly, vacillating

men, and they have played as important a part as the latter (often one

much more so) in all the political troubles of their country.

Ambitious and aspiring, accustomed to conduct with ease the maziest

intrigues with a presence of mind that never fails them at critical

moments, passionate and bold, they mingle in the great game of

politics with momentous effect, and usually turn it to their own

advantage, seldom to that of the state."

Add to this picture that, though delicate, modest women are rare, actual

adultery is not often committed by the sex, but that concubinage is more

common, or rather, perhaps, more public than in Europe, the father being

usually very fond and careful of his natural children, and a fair view is

obtained of female character in Lima. The white Creoles are noted for

sensuality, and some of the dances in which they indulge are of

indescribable obscenity.[331]

The influx of foreign ships and seamen into Callao, the port of Lima, has

brought in its train the usual accompaniments, drunkenness and debauchery.

A few years ago it was almost in decay and ruin; now it swarms with

drinking-shops (_pulperias_) and prostitutes, and is probably as

profligate a place as any in the western hemisphere.

Passing to the Atlantic coast of South America, we find Robertson, the

author of "Letters from Paraguay," writing of female Spanish society at

the city of Santa Fe:

"I was particularly struck by the extremely free nature (to use the

very gentlest expression) of the conversation which was adopted with

the ladies, young and old. It was such as to make me, with my

unsophisticated English feelings, blush at every turn, although such

modesty, whenever it was observed, caused a hearty laugh."

The same author, speaking of female society in Rio, says:

"There is no society at Rio, for I can not call that society from

which females are excluded. Generally speaking, the husband of a

Brazilian wife is not so much her companion as her keeper. His house

is the abode of jealousy and distrust, for he can not always stretch

his confidence to the point of imagining fidelity in the wife of his

bosom, any more than he can rely on the virtuous forbearance of the

friend of his heart. His daughters are brought up in Moorish

seclusion, and his wife is delivered over to the keeping of a train of

sombre slaves and domestics."

It may be thought that some of these remarks are applicable to periods of

time and conditions of society now happily passed away. But the poison of

moral depravity, when once taken up, is not to be speedily eliminated from

the system of nations more than of individuals. A very recent traveler,

Mr. Stewart, testifies to the demoralization of female society in all

classes.[332]

With such uniform representations of the general immorality, and of the

low estimate in which female virtue is held in South America, it is not to

be expected that there are any special details on the subject of our

investigation. Prostitution is in some degree attendant upon a state of

public feeling in which the purity of wives and daughters is held in

respect--not viewed with jealousy, but with reverence. In South America,

even in the present time, females mix but little in society. Their

education is very limited, terminates early, and they are always under

some kind of guardianship or chaperonage in public. This does not elevate

the female character. Freedom and self-respect are the best protectives to

virtue and honor, and the seclusion of women from general society only

serves to invest them with the attraction of mystery to the libertine,

while it takes away from themselves the experience and self-reliance in

which they find a safeguard.

In South America generally, the character of the priesthood is

unfortunately open to reprobation. In Brazil, the priests are reputed to

be free livers. Nearly all of them have families, and when seen leaving

the dwellings of their wives, or of the females they visit, they speak of

them as their nieces or sisters. Some unequivocally admit the

relationship existing, and acknowledge their children.[333] The value of

the priestly character, in estimating the standard of morality among a

population is unquestionably great.

An enlightened native said to Mr. Ewbank, "The priesthood of this country

is superlatively corrupt. It is impossible for men to be worse, or to

imagine them worse. In the churches they appear respectable and devout,

but their secret crimes have made this city a Sodom. There are, of course,

honorable exceptions."[334]

Another, a man of unquestionable authority, said, "They are assuredly the

most licentious and profligate part of the community. The exceptions are

rare. Celibacy being one of their dogmas, you will find nearly the whole

with families."

At Rio Janeiro there is a Foundling Hospital, established in 1582, which

is a noble institution. The boys are provided for at Botofoga, and are in

due time apprenticed to trades. The girls reside in the city

establishment, and are taught to read, write, sew, etc. At each

anniversary, bachelors in want of wives attend at the festival, and if

they see girls to their liking, make themselves known. If a girl accepts

such a lover, he makes his application to the managers, who inquire into

his character, and, if satisfactory, the marriage takes place, and a small

dowry is given from the funds of the society. In the management of the

institution or the reception of infants, there is nothing peculiarly

worthy notice. But if those who are averse to such institutions contrast

the blessed results of saving these helpless infants from misery, and the

horror of beholding their dead bodies cast on dunghills, to be devoured as

carrion by obscene animals and birds of prey, as has been mentioned in the

notice of Lima, they would, on such grounds, even if there were no better

to be urged, suspend a hasty judgment on Foundling Hospitals.

CHAPTER XXIX.

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

Decrease of the Indian Race.--Treatment of Females.--Courtship.--

Stealing Wives.--Domestic Life among the Crow Indians.--"Pine Leaf."--

Female Prisoners.--Marriage.--Conjugal Relations.--Infidelity.--

Polygamy.--Divorce.--Female Morality.--Intrigue and Revenge.--Decency

of Outward Life.--Effects of Contact with White Men.--Traders.

The aboriginal inhabitants of the vast continent of America have been

variously described by different writers, one man lauding them as models

of chivalry and virtue, another decrying them as the personification of

meanness and vice. Hence it is only at a recent period, comparatively

speaking, that any reliable information has been obtainable on the

subject. In the limited space that can be given to a consideration of the

Indian and his social habits, we shall endeavor to reject both romance and

vituperation. We do not believe him so stoically virtuous as the former

class of writers depict, nor do we think that all of the race are so

deeply sunk in depravity as the latter represent.

In addition to the authorities quoted in the progress of the chapter, we

are under obligations to Mr. Horace St. John's article on Prostitution,

incorporated by Mr. Mayhew in his tracts on "London Labor and the London

Poor."

At the time of the settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth, it was estimated

that there were about two millions of Indians scattered over this

continent. They were then a brave and hardy people, who lived on the

produce of the chase, varying their locations as the facilities for

hunting required. When the last census of the United States was taken,

their numbers were about four hundred thousand, exclusive of fifteen

thousand in Canada and the British possessions. This decrease has been

ascribed to the occupation of their hunting-grounds by white men, and the

consequent extermination of the game upon which they depended for

subsistence; the free use of intoxicating liquors, and the introduction of

small-pox and other fatal diseases. These causes will, in all probability,

result in the entire extinction of the race. In the small number

mentioned are many half-breeds, children of white fathers and Indian

mothers.

It might naturally be supposed that in the several tribes composing this

people there would exist great diversity of manners, but these are found

only in minor particulars. The social institutions of the North American

Indians are so generally uniform as to render it possible to sketch the

whole at one view.

Their occupations are still confined to the chase and the war-path. To

perform a round of daily labor, even though it insured the most ample

provision for his wants, would be contrary alike to the inclination and

the supposed dignity of the Red Man, who will scarcely deign to follow any

pursuit which does not combine enterprise and excitement. Woman,

therefore, becomes the drudge and slave; upon her devolves the duty of

cultivating the ground, whenever any attempt is made to assist the

spontaneous efforts of Nature; she it is who must bear the load of game

which her husband has killed; must carry wood and water, build huts, and

make canoes. In fishing, and in reaping their scanty harvest, the man

will, at times, condescend to assist her, but otherwise all the labor

falls to her share. In those tribes visited by traders, her duties are

still heavier; she must join in the hunt, and afterward dress and prepare

the skins and furs which are to be bartered for whisky and other luxuries.

To this degraded condition the women seem perfectly reconciled, and

expertness at the assigned employment is a source of pride to them.

The treatment of the female sex is generally admitted to be a standard by

which man's moral qualities can be estimated. It may be doubted if this

rule would apply to the Indian tribes, for those who treat their females

most mildly are by no means the most virtuous, nor is their deference

attended by any increase of attachment, the general opinion of a wife's

value being the consideration of her capacity to be useful. Where they aid

in procuring food or luxuries for the tribe, they are held in more esteem;

while in places where the chief burden of providing rests upon the men,

they are treated with severity.[335]

Even when oppressed with these laborious occupations, the women have as

much native vanity in respect to decoration as the sex in any part of the

world; and an accurate observer remarks that, "Judging from the time a

squaw often occupies in arranging her hair, or disposing her scanty dress,

or painting her round cheeks with glaring circles of vermilion, it is

evident that personal ornament occupies as much of her thoughts as among

fashionable women in civilized society."[336]

Courtship and marriage are differently arranged among various tribes. The

predominant custom is for a man to procure a wife by purchase from her

father, thus acquiring a property over which he has absolute control, and

which he can barter away or dispose of in any manner he pleases. The

example of Powhatan, who was chief ruler over thirty tribes in Virginia at

the time of the English colonization, is a case in point. It is said that

he always had a multitude of wives about him, and when he wearied of any

would distribute them as presents among his principal warriors. In most

cases the woman is not consulted at all, the whole transaction being a

mercantile one; in others an infant female is betrothed by her father (for

a consideration) to some man who requires a wife, either for himself or

for his son. The girl remains with her parents until the age of puberty,

when the contract is completed, at which time the father often makes a

present to the husband equal in value to the price originally paid for his

daughter.[337]

Another mode of obtaining a wife is to steal a girl from some neighboring

tribe. Captain Clarke, who crossed the Rocky Mountains in the years

1804-1806, as one of the leaders of an expedition ordered by the executive

of the United States, records instances of this kind. He says, "One of the

Ahnahaways had stolen a Minnetaree girl. The whole nation immediately

espoused the quarrel, and one hundred and fifty of the warriors were

marching down to avenge the insult. The chief took possession of the girl,

and sent her by messengers to the hands of her countrymen in time to avert

the threatened calamity."[338] "A young Minnetaree had carried off the

daughter of a chief of the Mandans. The father went to the village and

found his daughter, whom he brought home, and at the same time took

possession of a horse belonging to the offender. This reprisal satisfied

his vengeance. The stealing of young women is one of the most common

offenses."[339]

A more peaceable kind of preliminary to matrimony is for a man desiring a

wife to offer a small present to the woman: if she accepts it and offers

him one in return, the match is complete; or he may tell her his wishes

without any introductory gift, and, if agreeable, she will reply

accordingly. Others will not venture to express their thoughts, but will

sit quietly by a girl's side, and, if she does not remove from her seat,

her assent is understood to be given.[340] Still another custom is for the

lover to enter the woman's tent at night, bearing a lighted torch. If she

allows it to burn, it is a sign that his attentions are not desired; but

if she extinguishes it, she thus intimates that he is accepted. It will

not require much knowledge of human nature to imagine the consequences of

these nocturnal visits.

A recently published work, "Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth,

New York, 1856," professes to give an accurate account of the domestic

life of the Crow Indians, among whom he lived for some years, and became a

chief of the tribe, who believed that he was one of themselves, and had

been stolen from them in infancy. It may be necessary to say that we only

quote him on points where corroborative evidence can be obtained from

other sources. His character for veracity is questionable, and among the

miners of California, where he is known, any extravagant tale is

proverbially called "one of Jem Beckwourth's lies." His first experience

of matrimony, showing that the woman's consent was not asked, but that the

arrangements were made by the parents, is thus stated: "While conversing

with my father, he suddenly demanded if I wanted a wife; I assented. 'Very

well,' said he, 'you shall have a pretty wife and a good one.' Away he

strode to the lodge of one of the greatest braves, and asked one of his

daughters of him to bestow upon his son. The consent of the parent was

readily given. He had three very pretty daughters, and the ensuing day

they were brought to my father's lodge, and I was requested to take my

choice. The eldest was named 'Still Water,' and I chose her. The

acceptance of my wife was the completion of the ceremony, and I was a

married man, as sacredly in their eyes as if the Holy Christian Church had

fastened the irrevocable knot upon us."[341]

Cases are also recorded by Indian travelers wherein a custom more

assimilating to civilized notions is adopted. A young man will court a

girl for a length of time, using all his endeavors to cultivate her

affections, and the woman, upon her part, will entertain an equal

tenderness for him. Again turning to the pages of Beckwourth, we find an

instance of this in the case of a woman who attracted his attention. It

must not be considered that he was a victim of the romantic affliction

called "first love," for he had some six or eight wives in the tribe at

the time. His description is as follows:

"In connection with my Indian experience, I conceive it to be my duty

to devote a few lines to one of the bravest women that ever lived,

namely, 'Pine Leaf'--in Indian, _Barcheeampe_. She possessed great

intellectual powers; her features were pleasing, and her form

symmetrical. She had lost a twin brother in an attack on the village,

and was left to avenge his death. She was at that time twelve years of

age, and solemnly vowed that she would never marry until she had

killed a hundred of the enemy with her own hand. Whenever a war-party

started, Pine Leaf was the first to volunteer to accompany them....

She had chosen my party to serve in.... I began to feel more than a

common attachment toward her. One day, while riding leisurely along, I

asked her to marry me, provided we both returned safe. She laughed and

said, 'Well, I will marry you.' 'When we return?' 'No, but when the

pine leaves turn yellow.' I reflected that it would soon be winter,

and regarded her promise as valid. A few days afterward it occurred to

me that pine leaves do not turn yellow, and I saw I had been practiced

upon. When I again spoke to her on the subject, I said, 'Pine Leaf,

you promised to marry me when the pine leaves turn yellow; it has

occurred to me that they never turn yellow. Am I to understand that

you never intend to marry me?' 'Yes, I will marry you,' she said, with

a coquettish smile. 'But when?' 'When you shall find a redheaded

Indian.' I saw I advanced nothing by importuning her, and I let the

matter rest."[342]

It would occupy too much space to recite all the details of a long

courtship, including scenes in war and chase, at the camp, or on

horse-stealing excursions; suffice it to say that the heroine accomplished

her vow, and seemed convinced of the sincerity of her lover. She concluded

the courtship thus:

"She then approached me, every eye being intently fixed upon her.

'Look at me,' she said. 'I know that your heart is crying for the

follies of the people; but let it cry no more. I am yours, after you

have so long been seeking me. I believe you love me. Our lodge shall

be a happy one, and, when you depart to the happy hunting-ground, I

will be already there to welcome you. This day I become your

wife.'"[343]

Women will sometimes voluntarily ask men to marry them, promising to be

faithful, good-tempered, and obedient. This request is seldom refused, as

the marriage tie is easily dissolved if the union proves unpleasant.

Tanner, who was taken prisoner by a war-party, and lived among various

tribes in the northwest for nearly thirty years, relates a case in point.

The woman's endeavors to secure him as her husband commenced with an

invitation to smoke with her. He acceded; but either his blood was not so

warm as that coursing through Indian veins, or from some other cause, it

was long before he consented to the proposed companionship, which a Red

Man would have accepted on the spot. The girl resolutely pursued him, and

at last, with the consent of her father, took possession of his hut while

he was absent. When he returned, "he could not put the young woman to

shame" by sending her back to her friends, and so they became man and

wife.[344]

Beckwourth also had some experience of this custom. "A little girl, who

had often asked me to marry her, came to me one day, and with every

importunity insisted on my accepting her as my wife. I said, 'When you are

older I will talk to you about it;' but she would not be put off. 'You are

a great brave,' she said; 'and, if I am your wife, you will paint my face

when you return from the war, and I shall be proud.' The little innocent

used such powerful appeals that I told her she might be my wife."[345] He

lived with her until he left the Indians, and her son is now (1855) chief

of the tribe.

The women taken prisoners in war are frequently married into the tribe

that captured them, but never to the captors, who stand in the relation of

brothers to them, and by whom they are protected from insult. A warrior

who has taken a female prisoner usually makes an exchange with another who

has had the same fortune, each being thus accommodated without infringing

upon custom. If a man has seized more than he can dispose of in that way,

he generally gives them to any man who will accept them.[346] In the same

manner, a woman whose husband has been killed in battle will ask a warrior

for a male prisoner, who accordingly becomes the successor of one whom he

has probably slain. In these cases the man is adopted as one of the tribe,

is kindly treated, and entitled to his share of all their advantages.[347]

The marriages are without ceremony of any kind; the parties agree to live

with each other as long as they can do so with mutual satisfaction, and

the man conducts his bride to his hut at once, or resides with her at her

father's cabin. It must not be supposed that the ordinary requirements of

a married life are systematically unheeded, for, as a general rule, the

squaws are faithful to their husbands, who, upon their part, rigidly exact

this fidelity, even if they do not practice it themselves.

The general description of the position of Indian women already given

applies equally to their state after marriage. They continue sometimes the

abject slaves, otherwise the patient servants of their husbands. While he

eats the food she has cooked, and probably caught herself, she must wait

in submissive silence. At all times she approaches him with the deference

due to a superior being. An Indian will never evince the slightest symptom

of tenderness toward his wife; this would be opposed to his idea of manly

dignity; but the eagerness with which he will revenge her wrongs proves

that his apparent apathy springs only from pride, or a fancied sense of

decorum.[348] When Catlin proposed to paint the portrait of the wife of a

Sioux chief, his offer was ridiculed, and it was considered marvelous that

he should honor a woman in the same manner he had honored the warriors, as

the former had never taken any scalps, never done any thing but make

fires, dress skins, and other servile employments.

To infer from these facts that there is no conjugal affection among this

people would be erroneous. Notwithstanding their assumed indifference,

instances are not rare of strong mutual attachment. To an Indian there is

nothing inconsistent with affection in his indolently walking through the

forest, while his wife follows him bearing the heavy wigwam poles, his

ideas never having been led to consider this as other than her natural

duty. Many pictures of domestic happiness are exhibited among the Indians,

and the Blackfeet, Sanee, and Blood tribes strongly desire that their

wives may live long and look young. Heckewelder relates a singular

instance of indulgence. In 1762 there was a scarcity of food among many

tribes, and during the prevalence of this famine a sick woman wished for a

mess of Indian corn. Her husband rode about a hundred miles to obtain it,

gave his horse in exchange for a hatful, and returned home on foot with

the coveted dainty.[349]

These "lords of creation" attempt to enforce their marital rights with

much severity, and, if their suspicions are excited against their wives,

become very indignant, and punish them by beating, biting off the nose,

dismissing them in disgrace, or even killing them. The wife of a Mandan

Indian ran away from him in consequence of a quarrel. By so doing she

forfeited her life, which custom would have justified the husband in

taking, and he would have murdered her but for the interposition of the

travelers, who "gave him a few presents, and persuaded him to take his

wife home; they went off together, but by no means in a state of much

apparent love." This trouble arose from jealousy.[350] In another case, a

Minnetaree had much abused his wife for the same reason, and she sought

refuge in the camp. Her husband followed and demanded her, and she

"returned with him, as we had no authority to separate those whom even

Indian rites had united."[351]

Since an Indian considers his wife as so much property, equally valuable

as his horse, and for the same reason--for the labor she can perform--we

can easily understand that polygamy is universally allowed, though it is

not generally practiced, being confined to great chiefs and medicine-men,

as the rank and file are often too poor to buy a second wife. Many follow

the custom for the mere purpose of amassing wealth, but others of the

stoic warriors delight in the harem from the same sensual motives as a

Turk or Hindu. Among the communities that Catlin had an opportunity of

visiting, it was no uncommon thing to find from six to fourteen wives in

the same lodge. He mentions an instance in which a young chief of the

Mandans took four wives in one day, paying a horse or two for each. These

brides were from twelve to fourteen years of age. An Indian marriage at

this age is far from uncommon, and, indeed, it appears from good testimony

that celibacy beyond the age of puberty is very rare. Some of the females

are mothers before they are twelve years old. It is not universal for the

wives to live all in one hut, some tribes requiring separate lodgings for

each. This custom is in force among the Crows, and Beckwourth relates

that, on returning from one of his excursions, he made a round of visits

to his wives, some of whom he had not seen for months.[352]

It is not uncommon for a man to marry his wife's sister, and, indeed, the

whole family of girls, on the supposition that his household will thus be

rendered more harmonious.[353] For the same reason, a Cherokee will marry

a mother and her daughter at one time, though he will not, upon any

account, take a wife from his own kindred. Among the Oregon tribes it is

strictly required that each wife should be purchased from a different

family.

So well established among Indians is the custom of polygamy, that

civilization meets the greatest difficulty in opposing it, and, if ever

abolished, it will overthrow their whole social system, and, in changing

their national character, tend to their speedy extinction. Sir George

Simpson relates an amusing anecdote of an Indian who came into the settled

districts of British North America, learned to read and write, and adopted

the principle of monogamy. Returning to his tribe, he endeavored to

persuade them to the same course. Long and earnest were the debates on the

question, and the _finale_ was, instead of converting them, they

reconverted him. He took a great number of wives, foreswore books, and

never again appeared in the character of a social reformer. Another chief

offered to renounce polygamy, he having five wives, and a large fortune in

horses and cattle. Falling in love with the daughter of a gentleman in the

service of the Hudson's Bay Company, he dismissed his harem, and presented

himself, with great parade and confidence, to make his matrimonial

proposal to the lady's family. To his extreme disgust and mortification,

they rejected the honor of his distinguished alliance. He revenged himself

by refilling his hut with women as quickly as possible.

If the obligation of marriage is easily contracted, divorce is effected

with as little trouble. It is not often that a separation takes place, for

it is held dishonorable to forsake a wife for a trifling cause,

particularly if she has borne children. When it does occur, the offspring

are usually permitted to decide which of the parents they will accompany,

although usage gives the mother the right to take charge of them. In some

instances the form of divorce is simply for the husband to bid his wife

go; in others he will not take the trouble to give her notice of his

discontent, but will quietly put his gun on his shoulder and move off

himself.[354] There are a few instances of this being done for very slight

reasons; but, in addition to the restraint of custom just mentioned, the

actual value of the wife is a subject of consideration. Where a separation

does take place, the man will often endeavor to renew the connection. A

missionary mentions a woman who contracted a new marriage after her

husband left her. He returned and claimed her. The dispute was referred to

a chief, and he, either wanting a precedent or distrusting his judicial

capacity, could think of no better expedient than placing the woman at an

equal distance from each claimant, and then ordering the men to run,

promising that the one who first reached her should retain possession of

the prize.[355] In some tribes divorce renders it impossible for the woman

to marry again, but in others she can make a new alliance as soon as free

from the old one.

It is difficult to form any opinion as to the morality of females among a

people where marriages are contracted and dissolved so easily. We may

safely say that they have very little idea of chastity as a positive

virtue, notwithstanding their general, although not invariable fidelity

when married, which may probably be induced more by fear of consequences

than sense of duty. Of prostitution for a price, as known in civilized

communities, we find no trace in the Indian nations while in a normal

condition; but if we assume Webster's definition, "the act of offering the

body to an indiscriminate intercourse with men," it can scarcely be

claimed that they are free. The predominant motive seems to be an

inordinate sexual appetite, which must be gratified, if not in legitimate

marriage, then by illicit intercourse. We are told that in most large

assemblies of Indians there are to be seen voluptuous looking females,

whose passions urge them to this; and Carver, in his "Travels in North

America," says that among the Manedowessis it was a custom, when a young

woman could not get a husband, for her to assemble all the leading

warriors of the tribe at a feast, and, when their hunger was appeased, to

retire behind a screen, and submit to the embraces of each in succession.

This gained her great applause, and always insured her a husband. Though

the custom is now almost obsolete, the principle still exists, and

prostitution is regarded by many as the shortest road to marriage.

The birth of a bastard child entails little shame upon a girl, and that

such children are not more frequent is due less to their chastity than to

the means they employ to procure abortion. One of the reasons advanced for

their early marriages is that the impetuosity of the girls would render it

difficult to obtain a virtuous wife if the union was delayed. The

confessions upon starting for war, or what is called the "war-path

secret," would also favor the opinion that abstract virtue is at a low

ebb. At these times every warrior is required to relate to his companions

each act of illicit intercourse he has committed since the last excursion,

naming his partner, and enumerating the facts attending the frailty. This

obligation is enforced by the most rigid oaths known to Indian

customs.[356]

This immorality is not confined to the single women, for the squaws are,

at times, as ready to take part in an intrigue as any in civilized

nations. Beckwourth, whose experience of Indian manners seems to have

embraced every conceivable phase of life, relates his adventures in this

way:

"A brave named 'Big Rain' was elected chief of the village. He possessed a

most beautiful squaw, who was the admiration of the young men, and all

were plotting to win her from her lord. I determined to steal her, be the

consequences what they might." Having enticed the husband to a

smoking-party, he says, "I went to Big Rain's lodge, dressed and painted

in the extreme of fashion, and saw the lady reclining upon her couch. She

started up, saying, 'Who is here?' 'Hush! it is I.' 'What do you want

here?' 'I have come to see you because I love you.' 'Don't you know that I

am the chief's wife?' 'Yes, I know it, but he does not love you as I do. I

can paint your face and bring you fine horses, but as long as you are the

wife of Big Rain he will never paint your face. With you by my side I

could bring home many scalps. Then we could often dance, and our hearts

would be merry.' * * * * 'Go, now,' she pleaded, 'for if my husband should

return I fear he would kill you. Go, for your own sake and for mine.' 'No,

I will not go till you give me a pledge that you will be mine.' She

hesitated for a moment, and then slipped a ring from her finger and placed

it on mine. All I had to do now was to watch for a favorable chance to

take her away. * * * * The appointed time had arrived, and on going to the

place of assignation, I found the lady true to her word--in fact, she was

there first. We joined the party, and were absent about a week. We

succeeded in capturing (stealing?) one hundred and seventeen horses, and

arrived safe with them in the camp. Meanwhile Big Rain discovered the loss

of his wife. When we rode in, he took no part in the rejoicing, but

ordered his wife and me to be surrounded, and, with half a dozen of his

sisters, all armed with scourges, administered a most unmerciful whipping.

I received it with Indian fortitude. If I had resisted, they would have

been justified in killing me; also, if they had drawn one drop of blood, I

should have been justified in taking their lives."

Without wishing to delay the progress of the narrative, we can not resist

the impulse to express admiration of the Indian punishment for a seducer

of married women. Could the same unromantic penalty be duly and zealously

inflicted for similar transgressions, in places of more pretensions, some

of the scandals of civilized life would be curtailed. To resume:

"I sent word to the wife of Big Rain that I should go out again the next

night, and should expect her company. She returned a favorable answer, and

was faithful to her promise. On my return I received another such flogging

as the first. Two nights afterward I started on a third expedition, my new

wife accompanying me, and received a third sound thrashing from her

husband. Finally, he grew furious; but my soldiers said to him, 'You have

whipped him three times, and shall whip him no more; we will buy your

claim.' He acceded to the offer, and consented to resign all interest and

title in Mrs. Big Rain for the consideration of one war-horse, ten guns,

ten chief's coats of scarlet cloth, ten pairs of new leggins, and the same

number of moccasins."[357] This was not a bad remuneration for a faithless

woman.

In another case an intrigue resulted tragically. One of the wives of a

Minnetaree chief eloped with a man who had formerly been her lover. He

deserted her in a short time. She returned to her father's hut, whither

her husband traced her. He walked deliberately into the hut, smoked

quietly for a time, and then took her by the hair, led her to the door,

and killed her with a single blow of his tomahawk.[358] The caprice or

generosity of the same chief gave a very different conclusion to a similar

incident which occurred some time afterward. Another of his wives eloped

with a young man who was not able to support her as she wished, and both

returned to the village. She presented herself before her husband and

asked his pardon. He sent for the man, inquired if they still loved each

other, and on their acknowledgment gave up his wife to her lover, made

them a present of three horses, and restored them both to his favor.[359]

With the exception of some national customs, the outward life of the

Indian is generally decent. A temporary interval of wild license,

corresponding to the Saturnalia of the ancients, and called the festival

of dreams, is common among the Canadian tribes. This carnival lasts

fifteen days, and, laying aside all their usual gravity, they then commit

every imaginable extravagance.[360] Our authority does not say whether

immorality forms a portion of this relaxation, but from the custom of

other bands it is not improbable. Lewis and Clarke mention several

instances in which they were present at dancing and similar festivals,

and witnessed exhibitions of the most foul and revolting indecency.

Mr. Catlin records his opinion that the Old World has very little of

superior morality or virtue to hold as an example to the North American

Indians, and we are not inclined to enter into any long comparison of the

races. The manners of each have been described; and while it would be

unjust to expect the untutored son of the forest to display as much

delicacy as his more cultivated fellow-men, it would be equally ungenerous

to assert that the white female population, as an aggregate, are governed

by the impulses which apparently sway the Indian woman.

But whatever doubts there may exist as to the immorality of the Indian

women in their natural state, all are entirely removed as soon as they

come in contact with the white race. Those in the provinces of Nova

Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada have rapidly learned the worst of vices.

They are drunken, sensual, and depraved. The venereal disease commits

frightful ravages among them; in fact, most of their sickness arises from

excess of one kind or another. Maclean, in his "Twenty-five years' Service

in Hudson's Bay," says that the men employed by the company are reconciled

to their hard employment and poor remuneration by the immorality of the

women, of whom numbers are prostitutes, selling themselves for the

smallest remuneration. On the Northwest Coast chastity is scarcely even a

name. The sea tribes are the most licentious, and at some places, where

ships touch for supplies, hundreds of women come down to the beach, and by

indecent exposures of their persons endeavor to obtain permission to come

on board. Sir George Simpson received a visit from a chief who wanted to

negotiate the loan of Lady Simpson, and offered his squaw in temporary

exchange.

Many of the traders on the Upper Missouri, from motives of policy, connect

themselves with women of the tribes. The most beautiful girls aspire to

this station, which elevates them above their ordinary servile

occupations. These engagements are not marriages in our sense of the word;

a price is paid for the girl, and she is transferred at once to the

trader's house. With equal facility he can annul the contract, for which

her father is not sorry, as he is thus enabled to sell her over again. The

tariff of prices will range from two horses to a handful of awls: such is

the remuneration for which an Indian chief will prostitute his daughter.

It must be added that occasionally the couple live permanently together

as man and wife, the possibility of their doing so being always supposed

in the first instance.

CHAPTER XXX.

BARBAROUS NATIONS.[361]

Africa.--Australasia.--West Indies.--Java.--Sumatra.--Borneo.

The relations of the sexes among uneducated races are modified by every

circumstance of their position, but the natural ascendency of the strong

over the weak is universally displayed, and wherever woman is allowed a

social rank approaching that of man, it will be found that a degree of

civilization has been attained. Many branches of the human family have

advanced, more or less, beyond the utterly savage state, the love of

ornament and the practice of exchange having raised them one step in the

scale, while they vary as much in the characteristics of their barbarism

as civilized nations do in their refinement. Waiving generalities, a

better idea of their respective customs will be obtained by noticing the

position of females among the different nations.

AFRICA.

Some of the most wild and savage tribes of the human family are to be

found in the immense peninsula of Africa. Observation has proved that a

medium state of refinement is accompanied with the least immorality, and

that it is among the merest savages and the most highly-polished

communities that the greatest profligacy exists. In order to present the

subject clearly, we will make a geographical arrangement, and, commencing

from the south, pass over the continent, till we reach the valley of the

Lower Nile.

The Hottentots are a dissolute, profligate race, and have borne that

character from the earliest period. It was remarked by Van Riebeck in

1655, and confirmed by Colonel Napier in 1840, the latter describing them

as "proverbially unchaste." Indecency and lewdness are their

characteristics; and even now, though accustomed to clothing, it is not

uncommon for them to strip themselves, and dance in a lascivious manner at

their festivals. The females prostitute themselves readily to strangers,

some from inclination, others for money or a gift of finery; but we have

no means of estimating the numbers of this disreputable class. A few of

superior order are scattered among these degraded creatures, and

intelligent and well-conducted women have attracted the notice of

travelers.

The pastoral Kaffirs are more moral, though more ferocious than the

Hottentots, being more addicted to arms, and less to debauch. They

practice polygamy, buying their wives for so many head of cattle. The

girls undergo a probation before marriage, during which they are kept in

seclusion. As the tribe wander from place to place, they carry their women

with them, and upon them all the domestic labor falls, even the chief's

wives assisting in grinding corn and similar work. Divorce is easy on very

slight grounds. We occasionally hear of women committing fornication, but

no professed class of prostitutes has been described. Marriage is not held

as a sacred tie, but adultery by a wife is severely punished. Natural

affections appear extremely weak among the Kaffirs, and mothers have but

little attachment to their children, the sickly and feeble being sometimes

abandoned to avoid the trouble of rearing them. Mrs. Ward knew of a woman

who buried alive a sickly daughter. The little creature was but

imperfectly interred; it burst from the grave and ran home. A second time

it was subjected to the same torture, and again escaped. A third attempt

was made with a similar result, when its mother received it, and it

ultimately recovered. Such instances of inhumanity are not rare. Husbands

frequently drag their sick wives into a thicket, and leave them to die. It

is important to mention that, where these people have embraced

Christianity, their manners have totally changed; polygamy has been

renounced, and they manifest an inclination to conform to the morals

taught them.

Between the tropics the people are notorious for licentiousness. Morality

is a strange idea to them, nor is a man restrained by any social law from

intercourse with as many females as he pleases. The result is, that women

are regarded strictly as marketable commodities, and the commonest

feelings of humanity are unknown. On the Gold Coast husbands openly

prostitute their wives for money. In other places an adulterer pays a fine

to the husband, and many urge their wives to commit the crime for the sake

of the penalty. When Laird visited the Niger in 1832, he found the

condition of the females upon its borders most humiliating. Polygamy was

universal, and wives were reduced to slavery in their own houses. In

short, the race may be described as the most idle, ignorant, and

profligate in Africa. The king possessed one hundred and forty wives, one

of whom was under thirteen years of age, and all had been purchased for a

few muskets or a piece of cloth. Half a dozen of the fattest were known as

his favorites, and one of them was said to weigh over three hundred and

fifty pounds. The mother of this prince lived in his palace, and amused

the court with obscene dances. Adultery by any inmate of the harem was

punished with death. When a man died, one at least of his wives was

expected to attend him; she was bound and thrown into the river. In

another place the woman was buried alive; and in the kingdom of Fundal,

when a chief died leaving fifteen wives, the king selected the ugliest to

be hanged over the grave, and transferred the remaining fourteen to his

own quarters.

The native of Western Africa looks upon his wife as a source of pleasure

and gain, reckoning her as property to the amount she can earn. With a

strange inconsistency, some of these barbarians profess a sentiment of

attachment. The King of Atta told Lander that he loved him as he loved his

wife. As he was a polygamist, it is to be assumed the traveler thought it

a divided affection. Marriage is held as one of the common occurrences of

life. When a man is old enough, he takes a wife, and goes on adding to his

property until he probably owns a hundred, if he has means enough to buy

them. Even under this system many women can not obtain stated husbands, as

some men will not take permanent wives; but it is safe to assert that no

single man lives without female intercourse, and no single woman remains

chaste. A wife suspected of adultery is forced to drink a poisonous

decoction, but she sometimes bribes the priest to render it harmless.

Widows who have lived on bad terms with their husbands have to undergo the

same ordeal. An illicit connection with the king's wife results in death

to both parties, but for the wife of a chief the gift of a slave is an

expiation. The price of a handsome wife is from eighteen to thirty-six

dollars; a plain-looking one is worth about seven dollars. As a man's

inclination varies, he often sells one wife, and buys another with the

proceeds of the transaction.

In the kingdom of Dahomey, once the centre of the slave-trade, a most

profligate population is found, and the traveler entering its sea-port is

immediately struck with the immodesty of the women. Throughout the country

the same characteristic is observable; they are profligates from the

highest to the lowest. The king is superior in brutality and filthiness

(traits which seem hereditary to the throne of Dahomey) to any of his

subjects. He has thousands of wives, his chiefs have hundreds, his

subjects tens. The royal favorites are too sacred for the gaze of common

people, who must turn aside or hide their faces if any of them are

passing. Strangers are excluded from the harem, but the privileged

nobility attend the king's feasts, at which his wives take a leading part

in drinking rum and conducting the debauch. When the king desires to

confer honor on any favorite, he chooses a wife for him, and presents her

publicly. She hands her husband a cup of rum, which is a sign of union.

The King of Dahomey supports an army of several thousand amazons, who

dress in male attire, do not marry, and are supposed not to have

intercourse with men. These troops were long considered invincible, but a

few years ago they encountered a defeat on one of their marauding

expeditions, and a thousand or more were killed on the field.

As the king and his wealthy subjects have so many wives, poor people are

obliged to content themselves with the company of prostitutes, who are a

licensed and taxed class in Dahomey. There appears to be a band of these

in every village, but their profits are often insufficient for support,

and they resort to industrial occupation, hiring themselves to carry heavy

burdens, etc. One traveler saw two hundred and fifty collected in a troop,

and another was assailed by a crowd of women who offered to "be his wives"

for a drop of rum. Many of the poorest class stroll about naked, and a

gratuity, however small, will purchase their favors.

The dirty, lazy, dull people of the Fantee Coast have the same moral

aspect as the subjects of Dahomey. Parents sell their children, husbands

sell their wives, women sell themselves, for a trifling sum. One woman was

so anxious to make a bargain of this kind that she took possession of a

traveler's bed, and force was necessary to expel her. Marriage is a mere

purchase, a wife costing about sixteen dollars. Women are unsalable when

more than fifteen or sixteen years old. Any man committing adultery is

forced to buy his paramour at her cost price.

Along the coast of Benin similar customs prevail. Public dancers act as

prostitutes, and offer themselves at a small price. Every woman considers

it an honor to be the king's companion, even for one night.

In Ashantee, where also polygamy prevails, adultery is common, especially

among the king's wives, who are hewn to pieces if discovered. The people

are profligate beyond any thing which can be conceived. A practice of

unusual depravity prevails among the Kroomen, a son who inherits his

father's property taking his wives also, and thus his own mother becomes

his slave.

The Edeeyahs of Fernando Po offer a strong contrast to the above, treating

their women with consideration, and assigning them far less than the usual

amount of work. Polygamy is allowed. The first wife taken by a man must be

betrothed to him at least two years before marriage, and during that time

he is in a state of servitude like that of Jacob for Rachel, the girl

being kept in seclusion. When she appears as a married woman, all the

virgins of the tribe salute and dance round her. This custom is only

observed with the first wife, the others being concubines who are governed

by her. Adultery is severely punished: for the first offense both parties

lose one hand; for the second, the man and his relatives are heavily fined

and chastised, the woman loses the other hand, and is driven from the

settlement into the woods--an exile more terrible than mutilation.

It would be but a needless repetition to pass in review all the various

groups of African states. We have seen that in the west profligacy is a

universal feature, and it is scarcely less so in the east. In Zulu, for

example, the king has a seraglio of fifteen hundred women. The manners of

the communities in the Sahara are imperfectly known, but appear to be

above those in other parts of Africa, though many customs prevail which

shock our ideas of decency. A chief offered Richardson his two daughters

as wives. Immorality is usually a secret crime, and their general customs

with regard to sexual intercourse are outwardly decent. Still the

condition of the female sex is degraded, for they are regarded as

materials of a man's household, and ministers to his sensuality.

Abyssinia presents various characteristics of manners. In Tajura men live

with their wives for a short time, and then sell them. Parents are known

to hire their daughters out as prostitutes. One chief offered his daughter

as a temporary or permanent companion to a traveler, and a woman presented

herself as a candidate for a similar appointment, saying, by way of

recommendation, that she had already lived with five men. One strong

evidence of the immorality of Tajura is the fact that syphilis affects

nearly the whole population, man and woman, sultan and beggar, priests

and their wives inclusive.

In Shoa the king has one wife and five hundred concubines, the latter

scattered in various parts of his dominions. He makes a present to the

parents of any girl he may desire, and is usually well paid in return for

the honor. The governors of provinces and cities follow his example. There

are two kinds of marriage in Shoa: one a mere arrangement to cohabit, the

other a holy ceremony. The former is almost invariably used, the man and

woman declaring before witnesses that they mean to live together. Divorces

are as easily obtained, only mutual consent being necessary. A wife is

valued according to the amount of her property, and the owner of a hut, a

field, and a bedstead is sure to get a husband. When they quarrel and

part, a division of property takes place. Concubines are procured as well

from the Christians as from Mohammedans and pagans, but the latter are

forced to declare themselves converted, for Shoa is professedly a

Christian kingdom. A favorite concubine holds the same position as a

married woman, and no distinction is made between legitimate and

illegitimate children. The court overflows with licentiousness, numerous

adulteries take place, and the example is followed by the people, among

whom a chaste married couple is rare. The sacerdotal class of Shoa is

notoriously drunken and profligate; in a word, the morals of the country

are of the lowest description. In the Mohammedan states of the

neighborhood the condition of the female sex is also degraded, and if

there is less general prostitution, it is because every woman is the slave

of some man's lust, and is closely watched by him.

In the provinces of Kordofan, south of the Nubian mountains, the sentiment

of love is not altogether unknown, and men fight duels with whips of

hippopotamus hide on account of a disputed mistress. The wife is, however,

a virtual slave, and is still more degraded if she prove barren, the

husband then solacing himself with a concubine, who is raised to the rank

of a wife if she bear a child. The general demeanor of the girls of

Kordofan is modest, and their lives are chaste, while the married women

are addicted to intrigue, especially if neglected by their husbands. In

some parts of the country men consider it an honor for their wives to have

intercourse with strangers, and often assist the woman to this end. There

is a class of pretty dancers who are usually prostitutes, and are

celebrated for their successes in the latter vocation. Marriage is

arranged without the woman's consent; the man bargains for her, pays the

price, and takes her home. A feast and dance sometimes celebrate the

event. When a wife is ill treated she demands a divorce, and returns home,

taking her female children with her. Trifles often produce these

separations, an insufficient allowance of pomatum to grease her skin being

a valid complaint. These remarks apply to the fixed population; the

wandering tribes of Kordofan are a moral, modest race, naked, but not

indecent.

A chief of the Berbers offered a late traveler his choice of two daughters

for a temporary companion, both being already married. Many women there

are ready to prostitute themselves for a present. A virgin may be

purchased, either as a wife or a concubine, for a horse. A young Berber,

who was asked why he did not marry, pointed to a colt and said, "When that

is a horse I shall marry."

The condition of women in Khartum, on the upper borders of the Nile, as

described in Ferdinand Werne's account of his voyage to discover the

sources of the White Stream, is so degraded that it may be said with truth

the female monkeys of the neighboring woods occupy a far nobler and more

natural position. Farther up the river the morals are purer. The Keks are

described as leading a blameless life. Marriageable girls and children are

kept in seclusion, and during a considerable part of the year the women

live in villages apart from the men, who possess only temporary huts, the

substantial habitations of their wives being accessible to them during the

rainy season. A man dare not approach the "harem village" at any other

time, but some of the women occasionally creep into their husbands' huts.

Polygamy is allowed, but is too costly for any but the chiefs.

Among some of the tribes on the banks of the White Nile, women sell their

children, if they can do so with profit. The maidens appear naked, but

married women wear an apron. All experience shame at appearing unclothed

before travelers. Beyond the Mountains of the Moon Werne found a people

whom he describes as chaste and decent, where unmarried men and women were

kept separate.

Our information is so limited that any inquiry into the morals of Africa

must be incomplete, but enough has been stated to give a fair idea of the

average morality. Statistics are of course impossible, but from a

description in general terms we can not hesitate to form an opinion.

AUSTRALASIA.

In this division of the earth's surface are generally included the great

island of Australia, Papua or New Guinea, and some adjacent islands,

comprising New Caledonia and Van Diemen's Land. Politically and

geographically the islands of New Zealand are also in this division, but

there is some question as to the propriety of this distribution for

ethnographical purposes. Opinions vary as to the state of the New

Zealanders. There is much similarity between them and the inhabitants of

some of the Polynesian Islands, while there are equally strong points of

resemblance between them and the Australian aborigines. The New Zealander,

when discovered by Cook, was far superior to the Australian in

intelligence and in the arts of life. He inhabited a decent hut, could

build a stockade fort, and lived upon cooked food. The Australian lived in

a hollow tree, could put together a temporary hut made of bark and brush,

and fed upon grubs, roots, and raw flesh. Among such a race as the

Australian blacks it is needless to say that the position occupied by

women was of the most degrading and brutal character.

The Australian savage does not even pay his future spouse the compliment

of wooing her. Might makes right in their case. The woman is often

betrothed by her parent or kinsman, and becomes her husband's property by

sale and bargain. If this has not been effected in the usual way, he

acquires his marital privileges by an inroad on the grounds of another

tribe, and then meeting a woman, he knocks her down with his _waddy_ (a

heavy club), and carries her to a place of security, where he makes

himself master of her person by force. This, indeed, is so usual a course

of procedure, that it has given rise to a belief that the Australian rival

bachelors compete for a wife by knocking her on the head, and whoever

fells her bears away the belle.

The habits of the native Australians are not so observable now as they

were at the commencement of the system of colonization. At first a

continual intercourse was kept up between them and the settlers. The

reciprocal injuries inflicted upon each other, in which the whites were

more to blame than the natives, brought about an exterminating warfare.

The black race has gradually wasted away from the settled, or rather

partially settled country, while the much-diminished interior tribes have

retreated, in South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria, far into the

wilderness, beyond ordinary communication with the white man.

In Van Diemen's Land the natives were almost extirpated by the constant

warfare carried on between them and the settlers, convict as well as free,

and the government was obliged to take the few survivors under its

protection, and to establish a place of refuge for them. They were

accordingly collected, and deported to an island in Bass Straits, under

the charge of a special commissioner. But, notwithstanding the increased

comforts of their condition, and their immunity from the murderous

hostility of their white foes, they have languished, and, instead of the

population increasing, it has gradually decreased, until, at the present

time, it is believed that the numbers are under one hundred. In Central

Australia, north of the Murray, the tribes are still comparatively

numerous, and in some cases warlike and hostile to settlers.

The married women among the aborigines are called "gins," and the single

girls "lubbras." The women follow their lords on their migrations and

excursions, carry the loads, and do all the work. They bear patiently and

submissively the blows and ill-usage to which they are subject. Polygamy

is practiced by the more powerful men of the tribes, who appropriate to

themselves such women as they choose, and cast them off at pleasure. Now

and then they sell or present a "gin" to a friend in want of such a

commodity. There is considerable disproportion between the sexes,

attributable partly to continual ill-usage, partly to the habit prevalent

among savage nations of destroying female infants.

At one time in the history of these colonies, the outlying stock-men and

shepherds occasionally endeavored to solace their loneliness with a

"lubbra" whom they had managed to decoy from her lawful owner, but the

half-breeds from such unions are very rare. The natives, notwithstanding

the low estimate they have of their women, are exceedingly jealous of them

as property, and keep them away as much as possible from the stations.

Chastity is at all times of little account among savages, always excepting

the old Celts and Teutons, who held continence in high esteem, and whose

women were objects of general respect. From the peculiar habits of the

Australian aborigines themselves, it can scarcely be said that

prostitution exists as an institution. The woman has no choice in the

matter. As between the "gins" and "lubbras" and the white settlers, there

is scarcely any chance for prostitution. A woman now and then visits the

towns or settlements, but always in company with her male friends. When

quite young, the girls are not more disagreeable than others of their

complexion. When more advanced in years they are absolutely repulsive, and

are rendered hideous by scars and other evidences of brutality. At all

times both sexes are loathsome in their persons, and are clad in filthy

blankets or sheep-skins, unless when they can pick up tattered remnants of

European clothing.

Among the New Zealanders the state of the women was a little better than

among the Australians. The amelioration was rather in degree than

principle. They were subject to the same control by parents and kinsmen.

They were disposed of in marriage as matter of right, and were often

betrothed from infancy, in which case they were _tapu_ or _taboo_ to other

persons than the young chief or warrior who had purchased the reversion.

Cruel punishments of the women for infidelity were general, and even for

minor offenses they were subject to very severe chastisement. In one case,

even recently, a New Zealand woman was suspended by the heels naked, and

in that position unmercifully whipped. Her sense of the outrage was so

keen that she committed suicide. Licentiousness among the women was

probably more rare formerly than now. Adultery was punished in both

parties by death, and the family of the male offender were often involved

in the punishment. Now, however, the constant visits of whalers and

seafaring men, the gradual settlement of whites in the islands, and, above

all, the profits and advantages derivable from illicit intercourse, cause

the women to be free of their persons. Parents and even husbands are

oftentimes the principal gainers by the transaction, and even negotiate

the profit to be made. The marriage ceremony, too, was formerly of so easy

a character that, whatever the New Zealand woman might have thought of it,

no settler, and especially no seaman, would feel himself bound by the tie,

and, although associations based on this weak bond were not wrong in the

woman, they paved the way for less excusable relations.

The influence of civilized institutions and the presence of a regular

clergy and missionaries is effecting some improvement in native morals,

and many lawful marriages have taken place between the whites and the

native women, the offspring of which--a fine race of half-breeds--may be

met with throughout the Australian colonies. The example of the

consideration in which the native women thus married are held, and the

rights and social position that they acquire, is not without influence on

others, and predisposes them to the same course. Among the tribes removed

from the coast and withdrawn from civilized control, the ancient customs

are still kept up in their integrity, and the chiefs and natives jealously

resist all encroachments on their independence. Among those chiefs, even,

who have been converted to a nominal Christianity, Rauperaha for instance,

heathen institutions of revenge for injury, polygamy, power of life and

death over their wives and followers are maintained, and the humanizing

lessons of the Gospel have made but little way toward an amendment of

their barbarous lives. In New Zealand it is asserted that the venereal

disease is very prevalent among the natives, and from their diet and

licentious habits is often fatal.

In colonial white society there are no particular incidents to

characterize prostitution. At all times during the continuance of

transportation, female immorality has been very prevalent. The general law

so often observed as attendant upon irregularity of the sexes has been

powerfully operative; besides, there have been local influences at work to

deteriorate female manners. The large importations of convict women, who

were always the most unruly and vicious of the felon population, and who

notoriously gave more trouble and vexation to the authorities than any one

else, was prejudicial to public virtue. Just, however, as, on account of

these faults, women of indifferent character were lightly esteemed, so did

the respectable females gain in public opinion, however poor their worldly

condition. There was not much regular prostitution, although incontinence

prevailed. There was a continual system of marriage going on among the

convicts. When a man chose to marry, he brushed himself up, put on a clean

shirt, and went to the nearest superintendent, to whom he intimated his

desire for matrimony. Permission was always given. The eligibles at the

station were forwarded for his inspection, and the selected one rarely

refused, inasmuch as her connubial bonds relieved her, during good

behavior, from the more galling bondage of the law. Some of these unions

turned out more satisfactorily than might have been expected from the

character of the parties, especially of the women.

The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World · 第 43 / 50 章

On this return Mr. Mayne very probably based his estimate of 1840.[310]