Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-07-14
THE PURCHASE OF WIVES.
Countries I'm Which Legal Marriages
Follows the Payment OF Price.
Pall Mall Gazette)


rhare are. many countries in which, IL
man wishes TO be legally married, ne
has to 20 out and buy wife, though
the market-prices Of that article vary
constantly. In Uganda you can get what
Won REQUIRE for two or three buhochs' vi
even for six good sewing needles or per
haps a box of percussion caps; Whlie
inferior wives can be picked up III eA-
change for coat. and If one Is ihdliier
ent to health and beauty, for a pair OF
shoes. In the Caroline Islands wives are
cheap. A father will let you marry MS
daughter If you give him niue run
or a small present of fish, while In sa-
moa matrimonv runs you into pigs ana
canoes: among the Fijians. into whales
tooth and unuskets. In Tartary 1t Is pest
10 marry beneath you (you can DO IL on
q few pounds of butter), because man
who has lordly notions OF marriage
with one Of the upper ten must De an
owner of horses The aborigines OF Aus
tralia manage their marriages upon
most equitable principle. If wishes 10
marry BIS sister. he allows him 10 marry
his own: or, II d happens 10 be wluo"er'
then his daughter Will do just as
well. one OF the most obJecuohaple Ioih'S
NJ gaining a wife is to work for her,
nations its only advantage being that
a man can get wife on credit though
his father-in-law takes good care tnat
no serves his time. Among some races
Won have 10 do your own work before you
oct vour wife. as Jacob had to serve lot
Leah and for Rachael. Marriage by eN-
change and purchase Is nos customary
among uncivilized nations only In Cen
trail America and Peru man mas 10
work for his bride f.
In China a present is given by the la
Their of the bridegroom, the amount OF
which is agreed upon by both the Ia .,
lies. The Japanese make use OF s'i,''
Low custom. though, In their case, the
at,.,ro ~ presents IS the most important
mart Of the whole marriage ceremony, Tor
aftar these have been delivered ana
formally accepted neither OF the con-
tracing parties is able to go back. Whe-
purchase appears to have been the basls
Of Indo-E European marriage before the
senaration of the people took place. Manu-
rnentions the Asura form Of marriage as
one of purchase, and. according TO ATS
totle. the ancient Greeks were In the ma
bit of buying their brides; Tor IN the
Horneric age. a maiden was called by
name which sisnifed "one VINO prihsS
her parents many oxen
The old Scandinavians believed that
even the gods had paid price Tor their
wives. and in Germany the expression
80 purchase a wife" was in vogue un-
III the end Of the Middle Ages. The old
inhabitants Of ireland and Wales were
accustomed to buy their wives with gold
and silver or land. In Servia, at the be-
ginning of our century. girls hal reach
ed such a price thai Black George re-
duced their value to one ducat
Among many savage nations the equiva-
1ents of a wife are varied and grotesque.
Poor Bashkirs purchase theirs with cart
loads of wood or hay; the Indian Kisans'
with two baskets of rice and rupee;
tribe I'm California. with half a string OF
dentalium shell, and among the Padams'
a rude people of India, the sutton SHOWS
his intentions by gifts OF heid-nice anu
SQUIRRELS.