Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-08-15
THE PURCHASE OF WIVES.
Countries In Which Legal Marriage Fol-
lows the Payment of Price.


lows the Payment of q Price.
There are many countries in which,
IL a man wishes to be legally married,
he has to go on. and buy a wife, though
the market price of that article varies
considerably. IN Uganda you can get
what you require for two or three bull
locks, or even for six good sewing
needles, or perhaps box of percussion
caps; while inferior wives can be picked
up in exchange Tor a coat, and, if one is
Indifferent to health and beauty, for q
pair of shoes. In the Caroline islands
wives are cheap. A father will let you
marry his daughter if you give him
\ little fruit or small present of hshs
while in Samoa matrimony runs you
into pigs and canoes; among the
Fijians, into whales teeth and muskets.
In Tartary it is best to marry beneath
you you can do it on few pounds of
butter), because a man who has 1ordly
notions of a marriage with one of the
upper ten must be an owner OF horses.
The aborigines of Australia manage
their marriages upon most equitable
principle. If a wishes to marry BIS
sister. he allows hi1n to marry his own:
or, if B happens to be widower, then
his daughter will do just as well. One
gaining a wife is to work for her, a
habit practiced among many unciv-
ilized nations, its only advantage being
that a man can get a wife ON credit,
though his father-in-law takes good
care that he serves his time. Among
some races you have to do your work
before you get your wife, as Jacob had
to serve for Leah and for Rachel. Mar
riage by exchange and purchase is not
customary among uncivilized nations
only. In Central America and Peru a
man has to work for his bride.
In China a present is given by the ia
Their of the bridegroom, the amount of
which is agreed upon by both the fam
lilies. The japanese make use of a
similar custom, though, in their case.
the giving of presents is the most iri-
portant part of the entire marriage
ceremony, for after these have beeo de
livered and formally accepted, neither
of the contracting parties is able to
go back. Wife purchase appears to
have been the basis CT Indo-European
marriage before the separation of the
peoples took place. Manu- ntions
the Asura form of marriage as one OF
purchase, and according to 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 signified lone who brings heI
parents many oxen"
The old Scandinavians believed that
even the gods had paid price for their
| wives, and in Germany the expression
| "to purchase 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 Servia, III
| the beginning Of our century, girls had
reached such a price that Black George
reduced their value to one ducat.
Among many savage nations the
equivalents of a wife are varied and
grotesque. Poor Bashkirs purchase
| theirs with cart loads of wood or hay
the Indian Kisans, with two baskets o1
rice and rupee; tribe in California
with half a string of dentalium shell
and among the Fadams, a rude people
| of India, the suitor shows his inter-
tions by gifts of field mice and SPUR
rels.-Pall Mall Gazette.