Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-08-08
TIE PURCHASE OF WIVES.
Countries In w,t.c,, Legal Marriage Fol
lows the Payment of y iricc.

Countries In which Legal Aarriago Foi
lows the Payment of Price
There arc many countries in which,
;f n man wishes to be legally married,
he has to go out and buy wife, though
the market prices Of that article varies
considerably. In Uganda. you can get
what YOU require for two or three oul-
locks. or even for six good sewing
needles. or perhaps Il box Of percussion
caps. while inferior wives can be picked
M in exchange for cont. and, If one is
indifferent to health and beauty, for 4
nair of shoes In the Caroline islands
wives are cheap. A father Will let you
marry his daughter if you give him a
little fruit or small present OF fish,
while In Samoa matrimony runs you
into pigs and canoes; among the tl1lahs'
into whales teeth and mnskets. IN
Tartary it is best TO marry beneath you
won can do it on few pounds OF but
teri. because man who has lordiy no.
lions of marriage with one OF the up
De,. ten must be an owner of horses. The
aborisines of Australia manage their
marriages upon the most equitable prln'
chile. If y. wishes TO marry B. S sister,
he allows him to marry his own, or, II
Is. happens TO be n widower, then his
daughter will do just rs we'll One or
the most Objectionable forms Of gaining
= wife is to work fer her, habit prac-
ticcd among many uncivilized nations,
IT'S only advantage being that man can
get wife ON credit, though his father
in-law takes good care that he serves
his time. Among some races you have
10 do Your work before you get your
wife, us Jacob had 10 serve for Leah
and for Rachel. Marriage by exchange
and purchase is not customary among
uncivilized nations only IL Central
America and Peru man has 70 work
for his bride.
In China Il present is given by the
father of the bridegroom, the amount Of
which is agreed upon by both the faml-
lies. The japanese make use Of SINH
lar custom, though, i'll their case, the
giving of presents is the most important
part of the whole marriage ceremony,
for after these have been delivered ana
formally accepted neither OF the con-
tracing parties is able TO go back.
Wife purchase appears to have been the
basis of Indo- European marriage before
separation of the peoples took place.
Manu- mentions the Asura form of
marriage as one OF purchase. and &C.
cordirg TO Aristotle the ancient Greeks
We're III tine habit Of buying their brides
for in the Homeric age maiden was
called by name which signiiied lone
who brings her parents many oxen.
The old ScandinavianS believed that
even the gods had paid t price for their
wives, and in Germany the expression
Ito purchase wife" was il vogue IN
til the end OF the middle ages. The old
inhabitants of Ireland and Wales We're
accustomed TO buy their wives with gold
and silver or land In Servia, at the be
ginning of our century, girls had reached
such price that Black George reduced
their value to ducat
Among many savage nations the
equivalents of wife are varied and
grotesque. Poor BaShkirs purchase
theirs with carloads Of wood or hay,
the Indian Kisans with two baskets Of
rice and rupee, tribe in California
with half string OF dentalium shell,
and among the Padams, Il rude people
Of India, the suitor shows his inten-
tons by gifts Of field nice and sQair-
1cls Pail Mall Gazette.