wear the same moral aspect as the subjects of that kingdom. Women
support the men. Parents would sell their children, husbands their
wives, and women themselves, for a trifling sum. One woman was so
desirous of changing her companion, that she took possession of a
recent traveller’s bed, and could only be expelled by force. Marriage
is a mere purchase--of from six to twenty wives and concubines. The
rich support their harems at a great cost. The common price is sixteen
dollars. Maidens are seldom bought when beyond fifteen or sixteen years
of age, so that many men have wives younger than their daughters. The
individual committing adultery is forced to buy his paramour at her
original price. Contrary to the custom of Ibu and Bony, the mother of
twins is, among the Fantees, held in great respect.
Along the coast of Benin manners, in most respects similar to these,
prevail--public dancers acting as prostitutes in most of the native
towns, and offering themselves for a wretched price. Every woman holds
it an honour to be the king’s companion even for one night[47].
In Ashantee, where polygamy, as elsewhere in Africa, prevails, adultery
is common, especially among the king’s wives, who, when discovered,
are hewn to pieces. The manners of the people are profligate beyond
anything of which in England we can realize an idea. In the country of
the Kroomen, eastward on the Guinea Coast, where nearly all the labour
devolves on women, men become independent by the possession of from
twenty to forty wives. One practice prevailing there is characterized
by an unusual depravity. The son, inheriting his father’s property,
inherits also his wives, his own mother then becoming his slave. In
the interior, on the banks of the Asinnee, we find a people among
whom the men are industrious, and the women treated with respect. The
consequence is a far higher standard of morality[48].
It is remarkable to find among the Edeeyahs of Fernando Po a strong
contrast to these general characteristics of manners and morality in
Western Africa. Generous, hospitable, humane, practising no murder,
possessing no slaves, with only innocent rites, they treat their women
with comparative consideration, and assign them far less than the usual
amount of hard labour. To cook food, bear palm oil to market, and press
the nuts, are their principal occupations. Polygamy is allowed, and
when a man undertakes a journey, he is accompanied by one or more of
his wives, who are much attached to their husbands and children.
The first wife taken by a man must be betrothed to him at least two
years before marriage. During that period the lover must perform all
the duties which otherwise would have been performed by her. He must
go, indeed, through a probation resembling the servitude of Jacob
for Rachel. Meanwhile the maiden is kept in a hut, concealed from the
sight of the people. These courtships often begin while the girl is
no more than thirteen or fourteen, and her lover only a youth; but
if he seduces her before the two years are elapsed, he is severely
punished. That time having expired the young wife is still kept in the
hut, where she receives her husband’s visits until it is evident she
is about to become a mother--or if not, for eighteen months. When she
first appears publicly as a married woman, all the virgins of her tribe
salute her and dance about her. These customs indicate far more purity
and elevation of manners among the Edeeyahs than among any other people
in Western Africa. They are only observed, however, with regard to the
first wife, all the others being virtually no more than concubines
governed by her. Some chiefs have upwards of a hundred, and the king
more than twice that number.
Adultery is severely punished, but, nevertheless, not very rare. For
the first offence both parties lose one hand. For the second the
man, with his relatives, is heavily fined, and otherwise chastised,
while the woman, losing the other hand, is driven as an outlaw into
the woods. This exile is more terrible to the Edeeyahs than the
mutilation[49].
In examining the condition of Africa, in the light we have chosen,
it would entail a tiresome repetition to pass in review all the
various groups of states sunk in barbarism. The natives are generally
barbarian. Elevated slightly above the hunting or pure savage state,
they have subdued some animals to their use, and practise some
ingenious arts; but their manners are baser than those of any race
below them in point of art and luxury. We have seen that in the West,
with a few rare exceptions, profligacy is the universal feature of
society. In the East it is almost equally so. Our knowledge of that
coast, it is true, is less full than of the West; but travellers afford
sufficient information to justify an opinion on the general state of
manners. In Zulu, as an example of the rest, the king has a seraglio of
fifteen hundred women, who are slaves to his caprice. His mother was in
that condition when Isaacs visited the country. She endured corporal
chastisement from her son. A number of women and boys, belonging to
the royal harem, and suspected of illicit intercourse, were massacred
by the prince’s orders. Adultery, indeed, was a thing of continual
occurrence in the palace. Marriage is held among the people not as a
sacred tie but as a state of friendship. All the people, however, are
polygamists, and the laws of morality refer only to wives. With others
the intercourse of the sexes is unrestrained. Men do not cohabit with
their wives on the first night after their wedding. This ceremony among
the rich is accompanied by a grand feast, though, as in other parts
of Africa, the wife is bought--at the most for ten cows. A man cannot
sell but may dismiss his wife, over whom also he has the power of
life and death. Adultery is always capitally punished, that is, when
discovered; for with eighty or ninety women in his possession, it is
not always possible for the husband to watch their conduct--especially
as they labour for his support. Girls are not allowed to marry or
become concubines until the age of fourteen, until which period they go
without clothing. The degrees of consanguinity, within which marriage
is strictly prohibited, are very wide--an union being permitted only
between the most distant relations.
It is necessary to observe that in the Zulu kingdom profligacy is more
general among the men than among the women, for wives hold the marriage
tie in great estimation. It is the unlimited power of the male sex over
the other which forces it to become the prey of sensuality. Throughout
the Eastern region, indeed, women are the mere instruments of pleasure,
being bought and sold like cattle--forced to toil and live in drudgery
for the benefit of their masters and husbands[50].
Among the nomade and stationary tribes of the Sahara, who are not
aboriginal to that region, we have a different system of manners. In
the Arabian communities you may find women ready to perform indecent
actions, and even to prostitute themselves for money; but these are of
the low classes. Cases of adultery are rare.
The Mohammedans believe that a man cannot have too many wives, or, at
least, too many concubines. They declare it assists their devotion;
but the feeling is one merely sensual. Pure sentiment is a thing in
which they can scarcely believe. Rich men who are accustomed to travel
in pursuit of trade, have one family at Ghadames, another, perhaps,
at Ghat, and another at Soudan, and live with each of them by turns.
These women stand in great fear of their husbands. The rich are veiled,
and live in retirement; the poor do not; but all will unveil their
faces to a stranger, if it can be done with safety. The white, or
respectable women of Ghadames, never descend into the streets, or even
into the gardens of their houses. The flat roof of their dwelling is
their perpetual promenade, and a suite of two or three rooms their
abode. It is said that in these retreats many of the women privately
rule their husbands, though no men will confess the fact. Among the
Marabouts it is held disgraceful to be unmarried, but shameful also to
be under the wife’s control.
The negresses and half-castes who may be seen in the streets of the
cities of the Sahara, are generally slaves. The women of the Touarik
tribes, however, are by no means so. They belong to a fierce and
warlike tribe, half vagrant, half stationary, and are bound by few
restrictions. Their morals are described as superior to those of the
lower class of women in Europe; though exceptions, of course, are
found. One Touarik woman offered to prostitute herself to Richardson
for a sum of money; or, as it was expressed, to become his wife.
Polygamy, though universally allowed in the Sahara, is not carried to
an extent at all equal to that prevailing in the savage regions on the
east and west. Three wives usually occupy the harem of a rich man.
Marriage is, as usual with people of that religion, a civil contract
with a shade of sanctity upon it, but celebrated with great feasts and
rejoicings. The bridegroom is expected to live in retirement during two
or three weeks. He occasionally walks about the town at evening alone,
dressed in gay clothes of blue and scarlet, and bearing a fine long
stave of brass or polished iron. He never speaks or is spoken to, and
vanishes on meeting any one.
[Illustration: GIRLS OF NUBIA (MAKING POTTERY).
[_From_ ST. JOHN’S “_Oriental Album_.”]]
The manners of the communities in the Sahara are imperfectly known;
but from the accounts we have received they appear to be of a far more
elevated order than those of any other part of Africa. It is true
that customs prevail which shock our ideas of decency. A chief, for
instance, offered Richardson his two daughters as wives. It is also
true that many women exist who follow the profession of prostitutes,
though we have no distinct account of them. But immorality is usually
among them a secret crime. Their general customs with regard to
sexual intercourse are at least as pure as those of Europe. Among the
wandering tribes of the desert the hardship of their lives, continual
occupation, varied scenes of excitement, and contempt for sensual
enjoyments, contribute to preserve chastity among their virtues;
while the Marabouts of the cities are of a generally moral character.
Intoxication never happens among the women. Still, the condition of
the sex is degraded; for they are, with exceptions, regarded only
as the materials of a man’s household, and ministers to the sensual
enjoyments of his life[51]. The Mohammedans of Central Africa, bigoted
as to dogmas, are nevertheless more liberal to women, who enjoy more
consideration among them than in the more important strongholds of that
religion[52].
The wandering Arabs of Algeria hold marriage as a business transaction,
though the estimation of the sex is not low. The lover brings to the
woman’s home ten head of cattle, with other presents, which usually
form her dowry. The father asks, “How much does she whom you are going
to have for wife cost you?” He replies, “A prudent and industrious
woman can never be too dear.” She is dressed, placed on a horse, and
borne to her new home amid rejoicing. She then drinks the cup of
welcome, and thrusting a stick into the ground, declares, “As this
stick will remain here until some one forces it away, so will I.” She
then performs some little office to show she is ready for the duty of a
wife, and the ceremony is ended[53].
Transferring our observations to Abyssinia, we find in its several
divisions different characteristics of manners. In Tajura, on the Red
Sea, profligacy is a conspicuous feature of society. Men live with
their wives for a short period, and then sell them, maintaining thus
a succession of favourites in their harems. Parents, also, are known
not only to sell their daughters as wives, but to hire them out as
prostitutes. One chief offered a traveller his daughter either as a
temporary or a permanent companion; he showed another whom he would
have sold for 100 dollars. One woman presented herself, stating, as a
recommendation, that she had already lived with five men. These are
nothing but prostitutes, whatever the delicacy of travellers induces
them to term them. Unfortunately the inquiries made into this system
are very slight, affording us no statistics or results of any kind. We
are thus left to judge of morality in Tajura by the fact that syphilis
afflicts nearly the whole population, man and woman, sultan and beggar,
priests and their wives included.
In the Christian kingdom of Shoa, the Christian king has one wife,
and 500 concubines; seven in the palace, thirteen at different places
in the outskirts, and the rest in various parts of his dominions. He
makes a present to the parents of any women he may desire, and is
usually well paid in return for the honour. The governors of cities and
provinces follow this example, keeping establishments of concubines at
different places. Scores of the royal slaves are cast aside, and their
place supplied by others.
In Shoa there are two kinds of marriage; one a mere agreement to
cohabitation, another a holy ceremony; the former is almost universally
practised. The men and women declare before witnesses that they intend
to live happily together. The connection thus easily contracted is
easily broken; mutual consent only is necessary to a divorce. In Shoa
a wife is valued according to the amount of her property. The heiress
to a house, a field and a bedstead, is sure to have a husband. When
they quarrel and part, a division of goods takes place. Holy ceremonies
are very rare, and not much relished. A wedded couple, in one sense
of the term, is a phenomenon. Instances of incontinence are frequent;
while the caprice of the men leads them often to increase the number
of their concubines. These are procured as well from the Christians as
from the Mohammedans and Pagans; but the poor girls professing these
religions are forced to a blind profession of Christianity. Favourite
slaves and concubines hold the same position with married women; while
illegitimate and legitimate children are treated by the law with no
distinction. Three hundred of the king’s concubines are slaves, taken
in war or purchased from dealers. They are guarded by fifty eunuchs,
and live in seclusion; though this by no means prevents the court from
overflowing with licentiousness. Numerous adulteries take place, and
this example is followed by the people; among whom a chaste married
couple is not common.
Women in Abyssinia, which is an agricultural country, mix freely with
the men, and dance in their company; though a few jealous husbands or
cautious parents seclude them. Morality is at an extremely low ebb. At
the Christmas saturnalia, gross and disgusting scenes occur, as well as
at other feasts. What else can be expected in a country where 12,000
priests live devoted, in theory at least, to celibacy; and where, at
the annual baptisms, these priests, with men, women, and children strip
naked, and rush in promiscuous crowds into a stream, where they are
baptised according to the Christian religion! The sacerdotal class of
Shoa is notoriously drunken and profligate. Another cause of corruption
is the caprice which induces men to abandon their concubines after
short cohabitation with them. These women, discarded and neglected,
devote themselves to an infamous profession, and thus immorality is
perpetuated through every grade of their society: in a word, the morals
of Shoa are of the lowest description. In the Mohammedan states in its
neighbourhood the condition of the sex is no better. If there is less
general prostitution, it is because every woman is the slave of some
man’s lust, and is imprisoned under his eye. He is jealous only of
her person; scarcely attributing to her a single quality which is not
perceptible to his senses[54].
In the southern provinces of Kordofan, under the government of Egypt,
south of the Nubian Mountains, immense labour is imposed on the
unmarried girls; yet the sentiment of love is not altogether unknown to
them, and men fight duels with whips of hippopotamus hide on account
of a disputed mistress. The wife is nevertheless a virtual slave, and
still more degraded should she prove barren; the husband, in that
case, solaces himself with a concubine, who, if she bears a child, is
elevated to the rank of wife. It is common among the rich for a man to
make his wife a separate allowance after the birth of her second child,
when she goes to live in a separate hut. All their bloom is gone by
the time they are twenty-four years old, and thenceforward they enjoy
no estimation from the men. Yet, improvident in their hearts, the
young girls of Kordofan are merry; and, whether at work or idle, spend
the day in songs and laughter; while in the evening they assemble and
dance to the music of the Tarabuka drum. Their demeanour, in general,
is modest, and their lives are chaste. Married women, on the contrary,
especially those who are neglected by their husbands, occupy themselves
in gossip, and find solace in criminal intrigues. In some parts of the
country, indeed, men consider it an honour for their wives to have
intercourse with others; and the women are often forwarded in their
advances. Female slaves often have liberty when they bear children to
their proprietors.
Women eat when the men have done, and pretty dancers attend at the
feasts to amuse their employers. These girls, like the Ghawazee of
Lower Egypt, are usually prostitutes, and very skilful in the arts of
seduction. Numbers of this class fled from Egypt into Kordofan, on one
occasion, when Mohammed Ali, in one of his affected fits of morality,
endeavoured to suppress their calling altogether.
Marriage, it may be scarcely necessary to say, is concluded without
the woman’s consent. The man bargains for her, pays her price, takes
her home, strips off her virginal girdle, which is the only garment
of unmarried girls, and covers her with a cloth about her loins; a
feast and a dance occasionally celebrate the event. When a wife is
ill-treated beyond endurance, she demands a divorce; and, taking her
female offspring, with her dowry, returns home. Trifles often produce
these separations. That her husband has not allowed her sufficient
pomatum to anoint her person with, is not unfrequently the ground of
complaint. Few men in Kordofan have more than two wives; but most have
concubines besides, whom the more opulent protect by a guard of eunuchs.
These remarks apply to the agricultural or fixed population. The
Baghaira, or wandering pastoral tribes of Kordofan, are a modest, moral
race--naked, but not on that account indecent[55].
A chief of the Berbers offered a late traveller the choice of his two
daughters for a bedfellow. They were already both married. Women there,
however, as well as in Dongola, are, many of them, ready to prostitute
themselves for a present. A virgin, whether as wife or concubine, may
be purchased for a horse. “Why do you not marry?” said a traveller to a
young Berber. He pointed to a colt and answered “When that is a horse I
shall marry.”[56]
The condition of women and state of manners on the upper borders
of the Nile, we find described in Ferdinand Werne’s account of his
recent voyage to discover the sources of the White Stream. The system
in Khartum may be indicated by one sentence in the traveller’s own
language. He speaks of desiring that the pay might be advanced to
prevent starvation from visiting the soldiers’ families, “which,
from the low price of female slaves, were numerous.” It may, without
resort to hyperbole, be said, that the female monkeys peopling the
neighbouring woods occupy a far nobler and more natural position.
Among the barbarians on the banks of the river further up, the state
of manners is in a great degree more pure. The Keks, for example,
are described as leading a blameless life. The travellers saw no
marriageable maidens or children, married women alone appearing. The
most singular social economy prevails among them. The women live,
during a considerable part of the year, in villages apart from the men,
who possess only temporary huts. Their wives have regular substantial
habitations, which are common to both sexes during the rainy season. A
man dare not approach the “harem village,” except at the proper period,
though some of the women occasionally creep into their husbands’
village. Polygamy is allowed, but only practised by the chiefs, since
all the wives are bought, which renders the indulgence costly.
Among some of the tribes on the banks of the White Nile women will sell
their children if they can do so with profit. Everywhere in that region
the maidens mingle naked with the men, but appear by no means immodest.
When married they wear an apron. All exhibit a sense of shame at
exhibiting themselves unclothed before strangers. Beyond the Mountains
of the Moon, however, Werne found people, among whom the unmarried men
and women were separated. They were completely naked, but chaste and
decent nevertheless. A heavy price was always asked for a girl, which
prevented common polygamy, though their social code permitted it[57].
It must be evident that, in an inquiry like the present, a view of the
manners and morals of Africa with regard to the female sex must be
incomplete. In the first place, our information is very limited; in
the second, we are confined for space--for otherwise these sketches
could be extended to an indefinite extent. We have, however, taken
observations in Southern, in Western, in Eastern, in Northern, and
Central Africa. Kingdoms and communities, indeed, there are which we
have not included in our description. Of these some wear features
so similar to others we have noticed, that to particularise them is
unnecessary in a general view. Of others, such as Egypt, Nubia, Barca,
Tripoli, Algiers, and Morocco, we shall treat in a future division of
the subject, because they are not included, by the character of their
civilization, among the communities of which we have hitherto spoken.
The reader will, we trust, have been enabled to form a fair idea of
the average of morals among the savages and semi-savages of Africa.
With modern barbarians, as with ancient states, tabular statistics are
impossible: but from a description in general terms, we cannot always
refuse to ground a confident opinion.
WOMEN IN AUSTRALIA.
In Australia we have a family of the human race still more uneducated,
though not more barbarous, than that which inhabits the woods of the
African continent. There is among them less approach to the arts of
civilization, less ingenuity, less intelligence, but there is more
simplicity. Their customs are not so brutal as those prevailing on
the banks of the Joliba or the Senegal. Nevertheless they are true
savages, and the condition of their women is consistent with all the
other features of their irreclaimed state. Of the Australians, however,
as of all races imperfectly known, there obtains in this country a
vulgar idea drawn from the old accounts, which are little better than
caricatures. They have been represented as a hideous race, scarcely
elevated above the brute, blood-thirsty, destitute of human feeling,
without any redeeming characteristics, and, moreover, incapable of
civilization. Such a description is calculated only to mislead. The
aborigines of Australia are certainly a low, barbarous, and even a
brutal race, but the true picture of their manners, which form the
expression of their character, is not without encouraging traits.
Considering the great extent of New Holland, it is surprising to find
such an uniformity of character and customs, as we actually discover
among its nations. The language, varied by dialects, the habits, social
laws, and ideas of the people, are extremely similar, whether we visit
them in that province called the Happy or in the districts around Port
Essington. Consequently, though it occupy a large space on the map,
this region will not require any very extended notice. An idea of the
condition and morality of its women may be afforded by one general
view, with reference to the various local peculiarities noticed by
travellers.