to show that the female sex, enjoying perfect liberty, makes use
of its freedom to indulge in vicious pleasures. The women of Java
are dissolute, not because they are free of control, but because
the whole society of the island is profligate. Among the wealthier
classes, especially, the utmost immorality prevails with respect to
the intercourse of the sexes. In the great native towns the population
is debauched to the last degree. Intrigues among the married women
continually occur; and females of high rank have intercourse with
paramours, to the knowledge, and almost before the faces, of their
husbands. The men are tame and servile, often not daring to revenge
their honour or assert the conjugal right, and they are by no means
inspired with that fiery spirit of jealousy which among many Asiatics
renders a wife sacred from all but her husband’s eye. Females of
respectable rank are often the subject of conversation. An inquiry
after a man’s family is held by no means insulting, but rather as a
conventional act of courtesy.
Flagrant instances of the loose character of Javan manners have come to
the notice of travellers. Before the island was absolutely conquered by
the Dutch, one of its great princes, being desirous of purchasing the
favour of the people, gave many public feasts and entertainments, at
which the wives and daughters of the chiefs attended. He seduced one of
his guests, a married woman, and was in the habit of passing the night
with her, while her husband was engaged with his duty on the public
guard. One morning, by chance, the chief returned home earlier than
usual, and detected them together. He had, however, discovered the rank
of the paramour, and discreetly coughed, that the prince might have
an opportunity to escape. He then went into the chamber, and severely
flogged his guilty wife. She fled, and complained to the king of the
treatment she had received. He being in the critical position of making
good his claim to a crown, dared not exercise the usual prerogative
of a throne; but called for the man he had injured, made him many
rich gifts, and offered him, as compensation, the handsomest woman in
his own household. The husband accepted the peace-offerings, and was
content to take back his adulterous wife. The relation of a subject
to his prince must, at least when developed in this manner, be most
unnatural.
Women in Java are usually married very young, though not before the
age of puberty, which is speedily reached. The reason assigned by
writers for this haste is, that their chastity is no longer safe after
they have reached womanhood. Men wait for two or three years after
that period, during which they may indulge in unbounded profligacy. At
eighteen or twenty a girl is looked upon as verging towards the wane of
life, and becomes a suspected character. No age, however, excludes a
woman from the chance of a match; but scarcely any are unmarried after
22. Widows at 50 often procure husbands; for men at that period of life
usually choose wives equal in years to themselves, and sometimes older.
The preliminary arrangements are made by the parents on both sides; for
no intercourse could previously take place between the young people
themselves without being, and often justly, the occasion of scandal.
They are looked upon, as the natives themselves express it, as mere
puppets in the performance. There are three kinds of connection.
The first is when the rank of the parties is equal, or when the man
is superior to the woman. The second is when the bride is above her
husband, who is taken into the house, and adopted into the family,
by his father-in-law. The third is a species of concubinage, without
any rites whatever, and confirmed by the simple fact of recognised
cohabitation. In such cases, as no formality is required to conclude,
so none is necessary to dissolve the contract, which is, therefore, no
more than a species of prostitution, for the changes of companions are
extremely frequent.
In the other two, the ceremonies are similar. The young people are,
in all cases, betrothed for a longer or a shorter period before their
union--from one month to several years. The father of the youth,
having made for his son what he considers a suitable choice, proceeds
to the parents of the girl, and proposes for an alliance. If they
accept the suit, a betrothal is ratified by some trifling present to
the bride. Visits are made, that the intended nuptials may be publicly
known. At the third stage in the progress of the transaction the price
is arranged, and varies according to the rank and circumstances of
the families. Sometimes it is plainly called the _purchase-money_;
sometimes the act of sale is covered by a more delicate term--_the
deposit_. It is usually considered, however, as a settlement or
provision for the bride.
The only Mohammedan feature in the whole ceremony is the exchange of
vows in a mosque. This is followed by many ritual observances, more
of etiquette than religion, and great parade is affected. At length
the married people eat rice from one vessel, to typify their common
fortune; but in some places the bride washes her husband’s feet, as an
acknowledgment of her subjection to him, or else he treads upon a raw
egg, and she wipes his foot.
Though, as we have said, polygamy and concubinage are not generally
practised, partly because too expensive, partly from a feeling against
them--some of the rich chiefs indulge in them to an extravagant degree,
and glory in a train of 60 children. The wives, however, as already
noticed, can easily release themselves when their married state is
deteriorated into real or fancied bondage. The fact of their early
marriage, without knowing their future husband, or consenting to the
union, causes a great number of divorces. A widow may marry again after
three months and ten days have elapsed since her husband’s death.
Though the intercourse of the sexes is so free that vicious
inclinations may be indulged without difficulty or peril, the Javans
support a large class of women--prostitutes by profession. Adultery
is not considered a very heinous crime, but rather an offence against
the husband’s property and honour, yet it is attended sometimes with
danger, and often with disagreeable results. The vocation of the
trading prostitute is not, therefore, taken away. She unites in Java,
as in India, the profession of a dancer with her infamous calling.
There is a large class of these dancers in the island. The people
are passionately fond of this amusement, but no respectable woman
will join in it. The sultans, indeed, used to have some of their most
beautiful concubines trained to dance, and they were privileged in the
performance of certain figures; but, otherwise, all its professors are
prostitutes. Nevertheless, a Javan chief of high rank is not ashamed to
be seen before a large mixed assembly tripping with one of these women.
The dancers may be found in all parts of Java, but chiefly in the
north-west, towards the capital. They figure at most of the public and
private entertainments. Their conduct is so dissolute that the words
dancer and prostitute are, in the Javan language, synonymous; yet, on
account of the wealth they often amass, petty chiefs occasionally marry
them. In such cases they usually, after a few years, become tired of
their quiet secluded life, divorce their husbands, and resume their
old calling. The dress in which they appear to dance is very immodest,
exposing almost the whole bosom, and the attitudes they assume are
licentious in a high degree. Nevertheless, they seldom descend to the
obscene and degrading postures practised by some of the Bayaderes in
India.
The Europeans in Java have not certainly, up to a late period, at
least, set to their native subjects an example of pure manners. The
Dutch merchant had usually a Javan female at the head of his household,
who served him as a mistress as well. Indeed, the marriage ceremony
is seldom insisted on by the women; while, among the lower classes,
simple cohabitation is the usual method in which the sexes are related.
Yet they are by no means so gross and sensual as the wealthier sort
of people. Altogether, however, the island is remarkable for the
profligacy of its inhabitants. In every city prostitutes abound; and
about the roads in their vicinity women may be seen straying, ready
for hire. They mostly, as we have said, assume also the profession of
dancers, and this, in a manner, covers the profligacy of those who
employ them at their houses[66].
OF PROSTITUTION IN SUMATRA.
The population of this extensive island is divided into several tribes,
slightly differing in their manners and modes of life. The Rejangs,
who may be supposed to represent its original habits, are still rude
barbarians. With them, as with many people of the East, the scrupulous
attention to external show is by no means accompanied by a similar
spirit within. They drape their women from chin to foot, and dread
lest a virgin should expose any part of her person; yet modesty is
not at all a characteristic of the dwellers in villages and towns, to
whom this description refers. Those who live in the rural communities,
and are more easy in their costume, distinguish themselves by their
decency and decorum. In this is exhibited a curious fact, which may be
discovered in many parts of the world.
The civilization, if such it may be called, of Sumatra, is of a
peculiar character. Its people are in that stage of their progress when
great importance is ascribed to the multiplied formulas of etiquette.
Ritual is with them more essential than principle--of which, indeed,
they know little. It is wonderful to examine the intricate details
of the Sumatran marriage contract. Nearly all the litigation in the
country springs from that perplexing cause. Men in a barbarous state
appear to be under the influence of some law which forces them into
extremes. They must be at one pole or another. Either they dispense
altogether with ceremonial usages, and satisfy themselves with
obeying the simple dictates of nature, under plain rules for their
own convenience, or they divide the sexes by a maze of convention,
which prescribes a form for the most trivial occasions of life. True
refinement appears to be in the medium; but this is a question still
to be resolved. In some districts of Sumatra, Europeans, wearied with
the endless legal quarrels arising from these complicated transactions,
have prevailed on the people to simplify their code of marriage, and
the result has proved beneficial.
Some have supposed that the system of procuring wives by purchase,
which renders marriage difficult to the poor, has retarded the growth
of population. Others, however, assert, and with much appearance of
reason, that in Sumatra at least the contrary is true. Children being
considered as property, and daughters being especially valuable for
the price they command, powerful incentives to matrimony exist. The
purchase-money obtained for the girls supplies wives for the sons, and
in few islands are instances of celibacy more rare. It is certain,
however, that the fostering, or rendering obligatory, thrifty habits on
the young, has a tendency to check population, though it may be only
so far as to keep it on a level with the means of subsistence. Various
European countries illustrate that truth. In Sumatra, also, we have a
wealthy region thinly and badly peopled; but misgovernment, war, and
barbarism may be assigned as the chief causes. Besides, it is said the
women are naturally unprolific; that they cease to bear children at an
early age; that ignorance of the medical art causes thousands to perish
of endemic complaints.
There are three modes of forming a marriage contract. The first is
that, when one man pays to another a certain sum of money in exchange
for his daughter, who becomes a virtual slave. There is usually,
however, a certain amount--about five dollars--held back, and, so
long as this remains unpaid, friendship is supposed to exist between
the families, and the girl’s parents have a right to complain if she
be ill-treated. If the husband wound her he is liable to a fine,
and in other ways his absolute command is curtailed. When, however,
on the occasion of a violent quarrel, the sum is paid, the bond of
relationship is broken, and the woman is entirely in her master’s
power. The regulations in regard to money are numerous and intricate;
but need not be explained in detail. They give occasion, however, as we
have said, to endless law-suits, which are bequeathed by one generation
to another.
In other cases the marriage contract is an affair of barter. One virgin
is given for another, and a man who has not one of his own sometimes
borrows a girl, engaging to replace or pay for her when required. A man
having a son and a daughter, may give the latter in exchange for a wife
to the former. A brother may barter his sister for a wife, or procure a
cousin instead. If, however, she be under age, a certain allowance is
made until she becomes marriageable.
Another method is practised when a parent desires to get rid of
a daughter suffering from some infirmity or defect. He sells her
altogether without any reserve, and she has fewer privileges than other
classes of wives.
Sometimes a girl evades these laws by an elopement, and a match is
formed upon mutual affection. If the fugitive couple are overtaken
on the road, they may be separated; but when once they have taken
sanctuary, and the man declares his willingness to comply with all the
necessary forms, his wife is safely secured to him.
Many persons have assigned to whole nations, in various parts of the
world, a Jewish origin, partly because the custom prevails with them of
a man marrying his brother’s widow. The Sumatrans, in this case, belong
to them also, for the same rule is enforced by them; but if there be
no brother surviving, the woman is taken by her husband’s nearest male
relation--the father excepted. If any of her purchase-money remains
unpaid, her new master is answerable for it.
When, under this system, adultery is committed--which is not frequently
the case--the husband usually passes it over, or inflicts revenge
with his own hand. It is seldom such an offence is brought before the
law. When a man desires to divorce his wife thus married to him, he
may claim back her purchase-money, with the exception of twenty-five
dollars, as she is supposed, by cohabitation with him, to have
diminished in value to that amount. If, having taken a woman, he be
unable to pay the whole price, though repeatedly dunned for it, the
girl’s parents may sue for a divorce, but they must restore all they
have received. The old ceremony consisted merely in cutting a rattan
cane in two, in the presence of the disunited couple, their friends,
and the chiefs of the province. The woman is expected to take to her
husband’s house effects to the value of ten dollars. If she take more,
he is chargeable to the amount. Thus the whole transaction is carried
on upon mercenary grounds.
The second kind of marriage is, when a virgin’s father chooses for
her husband some young man whom he adopts into his family, making a
feast on the occasion and receiving what we may term a premium of
twenty dollars. The young man is thenceforward a property in his
father-in-law’s family. They are answerable for the debts he may incur;
but all he has and all he earns belong to them; he is liable to be
divorced when they please, and to be turned away destitute. Under
certain circumstances he may redeem himself from this bondage, but
pecuniary considerations are so entangled with the whole agreement that
infinite confusion is the result. Several generations are sometimes
bound in this manner before the contract can be legally broken by the
fulfilment of all the required conditions.
The Malays of Sumalda have generally adopted the third kind of
marriage, which is called _the free_. It is a more honourable compact,
in which the families approach each other on the natural level of
equality. A small sum is paid to the girl’s parents, usually about
twelve dollars, and an agreement is drawn up, that all property shall
be common between husband and wife, and that, when divorce takes
place by mutual consent, all shall be fairly divided. If the man only
presses a separation, he gives half his effects, and loses the twelve
dollars; if the woman, she then loses her right to any but her female
paraphernalia. This description of contract, which is productive of
most just dealing and felicity, has been adopted in many parts of the
island.
The actual ceremony of marriage, though fenced about with so many
ceremonial observances, is extremely simple. An entertainment is given,
the couple join their hands, and some one pronounces them man and wife.
Where the female sex is a material for sale, little of what we term
courtship can be expected. The manners of the country are opposed to
it; strict separation is enforced between the youth of different sexes;
and when a man pays the full price for a bride, he considers himself
entitled to her without any manner of persuasion or solicitation to
herself. Nevertheless, traces of gallantry--using that word in its
proper, not its ridiculous sense--may be observed in the manners of the
people. A degree of respect is shown to women, which may be favourably
contrasted with the conduct of some polished nations. On the few
occasions on which the young people meet, such as festivals and public
gatherings in the village hall, they dance and sing, and behave with
much delicacy; mutual attachments often spring out of such association,
and the parents frequently promote the desire of union thus arising. In
most countries, indeed, the barbarism of the law is mitigated in its
influence by the universal operation of the natural human sentiments;
it is no less true than strange, that mankind are usually better,
not only than their rulers, but than their laws. The festivals are
enlivened by dances and songs; the dances have been described as
licentious and grotesque, but Marsden, the philosophical historian of
Sumalda, only remarks that the figures displayed at English balls are
often more immodest and absurd. The songs are usually extempore, and
always turn on the subject of love.
The existence or flourishing of any sentiment among a people with whom
marriage is a commercial transaction, and who allow a plurality of
wives, may be considered incredible; but as, in the first instance,
Nature often asserts herself and the law is accommodated to her will,
so, in the second, the nature of things prevents any general extension
of the practice. Polygamy is permitted; but only a few chiefs have
more than one companion. The general indigence of the people is one
cause of this, for the perpetual weight of necessity is more powerful
than the irregular impulse of animal passion. To be a second wife is
also considered by many below the dignity of a reputable person. A man
sometimes prefers a divorce for his daughter when he hears that her
husband is about to take another wife. In the contract which stipulates
for a division of property, polygamy is impossible, for this obvious
reason, that the wife must have half the husband’s effects, which more
than one, of course, could not do. The origin of polygamy in Sumalda
and other parts of Asia has been traced by various ingenious writers
to different causes; but being, as it is, the indulgence which is a
privilege of wealth, it appears to have grown up with the whole system
of manners; no natural reason seems to exist for it. The proportion
of the sexes is nearly equal, and all the theories grounded on a
different assumption fall to pieces. Wherever polygamy exists, women
are purchased, and where they are thus viewed as property, wealthy men
will surely distinguish themselves from their neighbours by a plurality
of wives; and this happens in Rajpooratan, where the women are far
less numerous than the men, as well as in other countries where they
out-number them to an equal extent.
In the country parts of Sumatra, chastity, says Marsden, exists
more than among any other people with which he was acquainted. The
same characteristic appears to distinguish them at the present day.
Interest, as well as decency, renders the parents anxious to preserve
the virtue of their daughters. The price of a virgin is so far above
that of a woman who has been defiled, that the girls are jealously
watched, lest their value deteriorate in this respect. But the truth of
the Oriental idea is sometimes illustrated--that girls should marry
as soon as they are marriageable, or they soon cease to be chaste.
In Sumatra they remain single for some time after that period, and
occasionally lose their chastity in consequence. In such cases the
seducer, if discovered, may be forced to marry the girl, and pay her
price, or make good the diminution he has occasioned in her value.
Regular prostitution is little known, except in the towns. There,
especially in the bazaars, women following that calling may be found
mixed up with the concourse of sailors and others who support them. In
the seaports especially, where the population is not only floating,
but mixed from various nations, there is a great deal of profligacy,
and troops of professional prostitutes ply the streets for hire.
Europeans, however, who represent the general manners of the island
from the experience of short visits to the maritime cities, convey a
false impression of the people. The Sumatran is, as a rule, contented
to marry and be faithful to his wife. This proceeds, however, it would
seem, rather from some peculiar tone of temperament, than from any
principles of morality; for their ideas on this subject are, at any
rate, widely different from ours. Incest they hold as an offence; but
except it occurs within the first degree it is regarded rather as an
infraction of the conventional, than the natural law. It is sometimes
punished by a fine; but sometimes also the marriage is confirmed, and
the parties remain together.
The chiefs of the cannibal nations of Batta have sometimes several
concubines. A man once stole a woman of this kind--the favourite of her
master--and was punished by being cut to pieces, roasted, and devoured.
Among the people of Bulu China, on the east coast, a man may have four
wives, and as many concubines as possible. Some of the chiefs possess
one of these companions in each town or village of their country.
Adultery is punished by death to both criminals.
The general treatment of the sex in Sumatra is of an average character.
They are not absolutely degraded, nor do they enjoy an elevated
position. The poorer classes labour, and all are subject to the men;
but on the whole they are far superior to Java, and, in a considerable
degree, to many other Eastern countries[67].
OF BORNEO.
The splendid achievements in the cause of civilization which Sir James
Brooke has performed, have directed an extraordinary attention to the
immense island of Borneo. Like the rest of the Indian Archipelago,
it is, nevertheless, little known to the English reader--no complete
accounts having been yet published. Sir James Brooke, however, with
Captain Keppel, Captain Mundy, Mr. Hugh Low, and others, have thrown
a new light on the country, and enabled us to discern many striking
features in the social system of the races which inhabit it. The
uniformity of manners observable in Celebes does not exist in Borneo.
The inhabitants of Borneo, for the most part, remain in an inferior
stage of the barbarian state. There are, however, among them many
varieties of the social law. Some are the purest savages, wandering
unclothed in the depths of the forests, and subsisting alone on the
spontaneous gifts of nature. Others cultivate the soil, dwell in
comfortable villages, and traffic with their neighbours. The river
communities are far more advanced than those who live far from the
means of water-carriage; and the inhabitants of the maritime towns
are more educated, and also more profligate, than any. They have been
depraved by that bloody and destructive system of piracy, which was,
until recently, the curse of the Archipelago; but when Sir James
Brooke’s policy has been maturely developed, we may expect to see vast
ameliorations in their manners.