The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-07-19
THE PURCHASE OF WIVES.
Countries i'm Which Legal Marriage
Follows the Payment of 81 Price.
Pail Mall Gazette

ran Mall Gazette.
There are many countries in which. if
man wishes to be legally married he has
to go out and buy wife. though the mar
ket prices of the article varies considera-
bly, In Uganda you can get what YOU re-
quire for two or three bullocks or even for
six good sewing needles. perhaps a box
OF percussion caps; while inferior wives
can be. picked UP in exchange for coat.
and IL one is indifferent TO health and
beauty, for a pair OF shoes. in the Caro-
line Islands wives are cheap. father will
a little fruit or a small present OF fish. while
in Samoa matrimOny runs you into pigs and
canoes: among the Fijans. into whales
teeth and muskets. In Tartary il is best to
marry beneath you tyou can do ii on few
pounds OF butter). because man who has
lordiy notions of marriage with one of the
upper ten must be an owner Of horses. The
aborigines Of Australia manage their mar
riages upon a most equitable principle. If
a wishes to marry BIS sister. he allows
him to marry his own: If p happens to
be a widowsr. then his daughter will do
just as well. One of the most obiectiona-
BILE forms of getting a wife is to work for
ilized nations. its only advantage being
that man can get wife credit
though his father .in-law takes good care
that he serves his time. Among some
races you have 20 do your work before
YOU set your wife. as Jacob had to serve
for Leah and for Rachel. Marriage by ex-
change and purchase is not customary
among unciviiized nations only. In Central
America and Peru 4 man has TO work for
MS DTlut-
In China a present is given by the father
of the bridegroom. the amount of which Is
agreed upon by both the families. The
Japanese make use of Il similar custom
though i'm their case the giving of presents
is the most important part of the whole
marriage ceremony, for after these have
been delivered and formally accepted nei-
Their OF the contracting parties is able to go
back. Wife purchase appears to have been
the basis Ct fndo-Eurcpean marriage before
TIE separation of the peoples took place
AIanu mentions the Asura form OF MAJ
.iage as one of purchase. and according IL
Aristotle the ancient Greeks were in the
habit of buying their brides. for in the
Homeric age a maiden was called by a
name which signiiied ''one who brings her
parents many oxen.
The old Scandinavians believed that even
the gods had paid a price for their wives
and in Germany the expression Ito 'pur-
chase wife was in vogue until 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 Seryia, at the be ginning of our
century girls had reached such a price
that Black George reduced their value 10
one ducat-
Among many savage nations the euGiva-
Tents of a wife are varied and groIescue
Poor Bashkirs purchase theirs with cart
loads of wood or hay: the Indian Kisans
with two baskets OF rice and a rupee; a
tribe in California with half a string of
dentalium shell. and among the Padams q
rrde people of india. the sutton shows his
Intentions by gifts of field mice and squr-
rasG