Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-09-22
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The Purchase OF Wives,

The Purchase OF Wives.
Thsre are many countries in which,
if a man wishes to be legally mar
ricd, h" has +" 50 out and buy a
wife, though the market price of
the article varies considerably. In
Uganda you can get what you re-
quire for two or three bullocks, or
even for six good sowing needles, or
perhaps n box of percussion caps !;
while inferior wives can be picked
out in exchange for a GOAT, and, if
one is Indifferent to health and
beauty, for apair of shoes. In the
Caroline Islands wives arc cheap. a
father will letyou marry his daughter
if you give him little fruit or a
small present of fish while III Samoa
matrmony runs you into pigs
and canoes; among the Fijians, into
whales teeth and muskcts. In Tar
tary it is best to marry boncath you
(you can do it. t.on u fow pounds of
buttcr,) because man who had
lordly notions Of marriage with one
of tho upper ten must be an owner
of horses. The aborigincsc of Aus
tralia manage their marriages on a
most equitable principle. If A
wishes to marry B's sister, he allows
him to marry his own or, if B hap
pens to be widowcr, then his daught-
er will do just as we'll. One of the
most Objectionable forms Of gaining
wife is to work for her, habit
practiced among many uncivilixed
nations, its only advantage being
that man can get wife on credit,
though his fathcr-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.
Marriage by exchange and purchase
il not customary among uncivilizcd
nations only. In Central America
and Peru n man has to work for his
bride.
In China a present is given by the
father of the bridegroom, the amount
of which is agreed upon by both
families. The Japanese make use of
q similar custom, though, in their
case, the giving of presents is the
most important part of the entire
marriage ceremony, for after these
have been delivered and formally ac-
ccptcd neither of the contracting par
ties is able to 60 back. Wife pur-
chase appears to have been the basis
of European marriage before
the separation of the peoples took
place. Manu- mentions the Asura
form Of marriage as one Of purchase,
and according to Aristotle ancient
Greeks were in the habit of buying
their brides, for in the IIomuric age
q maiden was called by a name which
signiiied cone who brings her parents
many oxen.
The old Scandinavians believed
that even the gods had paid price
Tor their wives, and in Germany the
expression "to purchase a 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, at the bcginn;ng of
our century, girls had reached such
price that Black George reduced
their value to one ducat.
Among many savage nations the
equivalents of wife are varied and
grotcsquc. Poor Bashkirs purchase
theirs with carloads of wood or hay;
the Indian Kisans, with two baskets
of rice and ruppe tribe in Cali
fornia with string of dcntalium
shell ; and among the Padams, a
rude people of India, the suitor shows
his intentions by gifts of field mice
and squirrels.
Q - ~
O n. 3 T' @ E8. r .A.s
BOara tho Tho Kind You Have Ataays BOvgh!
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