Part 38 (2/2)

BORNEO.

Notwithstanding the attention which has been drawn to the island of Borneo within the last few years, it is yet but little known to the general reader. The investigations of Sir James Brooke and others have enabled us to discern many of its social features. Most of the inhabitants of Borneo are in a state of barbarism. Some wander naked in the forest, and subsist on the spontaneous productions of the earth; others cultivate the soil, dwell in villages, and trade with their neighbors. The river communities are more advanced than those who live inland, and the inhabitants of sea-ports are more educated and more profligate than any. These have been farther debased by the abominable system of piracy, which, until recently, was their occupation.

Among the Sea Dyaks, or dwellers on the coast, there is no social law to govern s.e.xual intercourse before marriage, nor is the authority of parents recognized in the matter. The Dyak girl selects a husband for herself, and, while she remains single, incurs no disgrace by cohabiting with as many as she pleases. After marriage she is subject to more stringent rules, for, as a man is allowed only one wife, he requires her to be faithful, or in default punishes her with a severe whipping. If he is incontinent he incurs a similar penalty. Cases of adultery are not frequent, though they sometimes occur in time of war.

The ceremony of marriage is as simple as possible. The consent of the woman is first obtained, then the bride and bridegroom meet and give a feast, which completes the contract.

If a girl becomes pregnant, the father of the child must marry her, and this is a common way of securing a husband. A man and woman live together for a time, and separate if there is no prospect of a family. During this probation constancy is not considered indispensable. The fear of not becoming the father of a family, a misfortune greatly dreaded by the Dyaks, favors the loose intercourse of unmarried people. In some tribes the duties of hospitality require that if a chief is traveling he shall be furnished with a _pro tempore_ female companion at every place where he sleeps.

Among the Dyaks dwelling on the hills morality is of a higher standard.

Single men are obliged to sleep in a separate building, and the girls are not allowed to approach them. Marriage is contracted at a very early age, and adultery is almost unknown. Polygamy is not allowed, but some of the chiefs indulge in a concubine, for which they are generally blamed. There are certain degrees of consanguinity within which marriage is unlawful.

One man shocked public feeling by marrying his granddaughter, and the people affirm that ruin and darkness have covered the face of the sun ever since that act of incest. As they marry constantly within their own tribe, the whole commonwealth is in time united by ties of blood, and to this is ascribed the insanity common among them, a conclusion warranted to some extent by the imbecile state of well-known royal families condemned to perpetual intermarriages.

It is said that many prost.i.tutes may be found among the people of the South, but this rests on doubtful testimony, and in the Dyak language there is no word to express the vice.

The Sibnouan females are neither concealed from strangers nor shy before them. They will bathe naked in the presence of men. The unmarried people sleep promiscuously in a common room, but married couples have separate apartments. The labor of the household is allotted to females, who grind rice, carry burdens, fetch water, catch fish, and till the ground. They are not so degraded as in other barbarous nations. They eat with the men, and take part in their festivals as well as their labor.

Among the Mohammedan Malays there is more civilization and more corruption. They are polygamists, indulge in concubinage, encourage prost.i.tutes, and ill use their wives. An English physician lately received a message from the wife of a chief appointing a secret meeting. He was punctual to the a.s.signation, and met the lady, who asked him for a close of a.r.s.enic to poison her husband, as he ill-treated her. Report says that the Englishman was disappointed in the nature of the interview, but firmly refused to grant her request.

The rich Malays allow their wives to keep female slaves, and the jealousy of the mistress renders their situation any thing but pleasant. They sometimes serve as concubines, in which case the law renders them free, but many refuse to avail themselves of this advantage.

We have no definite account of prost.i.tutes in sea-port towns, but they appear to be of several cla.s.ses: those who cohabit temporarily with the Malays, those who prost.i.tute themselves indiscriminately to all comers, and those who are supported by sailors and profligate Chinese, who invariably create such a cla.s.s wherever they settle. It is certain that women of this cla.s.s exist in considerable numbers in Borneo.

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

SEMI-CIVILIZED NATIONS.

Persia.--Afghanistan.--Kashmir.--India.--Ceylon.--Ultra-Gangetic Nations.--Celebes.--China.--j.a.pan.--Tartar Races.--Circa.s.sia.-- Turkey.--Northern Africa.--Siberia.--Esquimaux.--Iceland.--Greenland.

PERSIA.

Women occupy an inferior position in Persia, where they are literally the property of men. The lower cla.s.ses consider them valuable for their labor, the rich regard them as instruments of pleasure. While Persian poetry and romance are devoted to the praise of female charms, the realities of every-day life prove that the s.e.x is held in slight esteem. The wives of the Shah vegetate within the walls of a luxurious prison; and if one is ever permitted to breathe the air outside, she is paraded in solemn procession, guarded by a troup of eunuchs armed with loaded muskets, in order to drive off any curious wayfarer who might be tempted to gaze on the charms of a royal mistress. Nor is this isolation peculiar to them; it pervades all the upper cla.s.ses, and brothers are not allowed to see their sisters after a certain age.

This jealousy is not decreased by the polygamy which is common in the country. The religious laws limit a Persian to four wives, but allow him to keep as many concubines as he can afford; and, in pursuance of this privilege, the harem of the palace is said to contain at times more than a thousand women, who need a stringent discipline to keep them in order.

They are arranged with a strict regard to precedence. The chief favorite lives in splendor, her attire is covered with costly jewels, and she has the privilege of sitting in the royal presence. Her inferiors are subject to much rigor, and the eunuchs preserve decorum by administering personal chastis.e.m.e.nt with the heel of a slipper on the face of a refractory woman.

They seem insensible to any degradation. Many of them lead a pleasant, idle life, lounging for hours in the warm bath, and emerging with enervated frames to deck their pretty persons in order to render themselves attractive to the Shah. They court his favor as much as they fear his frown, and with good reason. The former can raise them to the summit of their ambition; the latter can condemn them to be fastened in a sack and thrown from a lofty tower.

Common usage permits a Persian to take a woman in three different ways: he may marry, purchase, or hire her. In the first case, betrothal sometimes takes place in infancy, but it must be subsequently confirmed by the parties. In this they seldom fail; for if a girl shows any repugnance to ratify her father's contract, he whips her until she consents, and she requires little of this kind of argument to induce compliance. The nuptial ceremony must be witnessed by two persons, one of whom is a legal officer to attest the contract. This is delivered to the bride, and by her carefully preserved, as it proves her t.i.tle to provision in the event of widowhood or divorce. Though a man has the right to put away his wife when he pleases, the attendant expense and scandal render it a rare proceeding.

Mohammedan jealousy farther protects the woman, as no one will willingly allow a female with whom he has lived to fall into the hands of another.

In addition to this, interest restrains a husband from using his privileges in a direct manner, as when he takes the initiative he must pay back the dowry he received with his wife. If she applies for divorce, he is free from this obligation. The advantage being thus on the man's side, a species of tyranny is frequently practiced until the woman is forced to open the suit, when he gets rid of her, but retains her property.

A Persian may purchase as many female slaves as he desires. These acquire no advantage of position by being his concubines; he may sell or otherwise dispose of them at any moment he thinks proper.

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