Part 41 (1/2)
The opportunities of information and particular inquiry were, however, not very great, owing to the more important political objects of the visit, and the not very protracted stay of the squadron in j.a.pan.
Not content with the excess of incontinence in which the j.a.panese as a nation indulge, they largely practice unnatural vices, and the youth of the province of Kioto, which is the peculiar appanage of the spiritual emperor, are celebrated on account of their beauty, and command a high price in this horrid traffic.
TARTAR RACES.
Central Asia is but little known and seldom visited. Among the most remarkable of its people are the Kirghiz Kazaks, who form a nation of shepherds. They dwell in huts, or temporary habitations of wicker-work covered with fleeces, and are a robust, hardy race, addicted to sensual enjoyments. Their manners as to the treatment of the female s.e.x are coa.r.s.e, but it is curious to remark that, while the men are indolent and licentious, the women are fond of exertion, for which their only recompense is to be treated as slaves.
The Kirghiz, when rich enough, eagerly avail themselves of the privilege of polygamy; indeed, this part of the Mohammedan creed is the one they have embraced with most ardor, yet few possess sufficient wealth to marry more than one wife. The price paid for a woman will range from five or six sheep among the poorer cla.s.ses, to two hundred, five hundred, or even a thousand horses among the rich, to which are added different household effects, and occasionally a few male or female slaves. A considerable share of these payments is absorbed by the Mohammedan moolahs, who find a profitable source of revenue in marrying these people. They consecrate the union as soon as projected, and immediately the amount of the _kalym_, or price, has been arranged between the parties, the moolah solemnly asks the parents of the bride and bridegroom, ”Do you consent to the union of the children?” repeating the question three times to each, and then reading prayers for the happiness of the couple to be married. No marriage is complete till the whole of the stipulated amount is paid, but neither party can honorably retract after the first installment has been offered and accepted. From that time the bridegroom has leave to visit his bride, if he engages not to take away her chast.i.ty. In cases where this liberty leads to an antic.i.p.ation of the final ceremony, the unpaid portion of the _kalym_ is not allowed to protract the union, which is hastened as much as possible. If a man find his wife to have been incontinent before he married her, he may return her to her parents, and demand the rest.i.tution of her price, or the subst.i.tution of one of her sisters. If he actually detects her in the commission of adultery, he may kill her, otherwise the adulterer is fined, and the wife may be divorced or chastised.
The morals of the Kirghiz are good. Chast.i.ty in the woman is highly prized, and the sensuality of the men is served by prost.i.tutes, who live in each camp, either in companies or in separate tents. Numbers of these women appear wherever the Russians have encampments, and virulent disease among them has tended rapidly to thin the people. The prost.i.tutes are composed of two cla.s.ses--widows and divorced women, who have no other means of subsistence, and linger out a miserable life in dirt, rags, and contempt; and a few who addict themselves to prost.i.tution from mere licentiousness.
CIRCa.s.sIA.
The race known as Aba.s.sians, considered the aborigines of the Caucasus, were described by Strabo as a predatory people--pirates at sea, and robbers on land. These characteristics they preserve to the present day, but otherwise they are a virtuous nation, strange to the worst vices of civilized life, and humble in their desires. Their religion permits polygamy, but as wives are costly, they are usually contented with one, who is the companion rather than the menial of her husband. The women are industrious, are allowed full liberty, and are free in their social intercourse, the veil being worn only to screen their complexions, and not for seclusion.
Their laws against immorality are stringent. An act of illicit intercourse is punished by fine or banishment. A dishonest wife is returned to her parents, and by them sold as a slave, as is also a wanton girl.
Illegitimate children can not claim any relations.h.i.+p, and if sold as slaves or a.s.sa.s.sinated, no one is expected to redeem them in the one case, or avenge them in the other. When a man desires to divorce his wife, he must give his reasons before a council of elders, and if they are not satisfied, he must pay her parents a stated amount to recompense them for the burden thus thrown upon them. Should the woman marry again within two years, this sum is returned.
Among the Circa.s.sians themselves women are not secluded. A man will often introduce his wife and daughters to a traveler, and unmarried women are frequently seen at public a.s.semblies. They observe one singular custom: a husband never appears abroad with his wife, and scarcely ever sees her during the day. This is in accordance with ancient habits, and is a prolongation of the marriage etiquette, which requires a man, after he has removed his bride's corset of leather, worn by all virgins, for some time to refrain from openly living with her.
Throughout the Caucasus a high state of morality is found. Open prost.i.tution is unknown, and any girl leading a notoriously immoral life would be compelled to fly beyond the bounds of the territory, if she escaped being sold as a slave or put to death by her indignant friends.
There is a general opinion that Circa.s.sians will sell their daughters to any Turk or Persian who wishes to buy them, but this is not the fact. They are particularly careful as to the position of any one who wishes to intermarry with them. Great precautions are taken to insure the happiness of the girls, and long-continued negotiations frequently lead to no result. The majority of females sold as Circa.s.sians are either children stolen from the neighboring Cossacks, or slaves procured from those Circa.s.sian traders who own allegiance to Russia.
TURKEY.
Proud, sensual, and depraved in his tastes, the Turk is too indolent to acquire even the means of gratifying his most powerful cravings.
Satisfying his pride with the memory of former glories, his l.u.s.t looks forward to the enjoyment of a paradise crowded with beautiful ministers of pleasure, and he pa.s.ses his time in an atmosphere of Epicurean speculation, lounging on cus.h.i.+ons and sipping coffee with a dreamy indifference to all external objects. Even the poor indulge in this idleness. They measure the amount of labor necessary to keep them from positive want, and spend the rest of their time waiting the sensual heaven promised by their prophet. In such a lethargy the most violent pa.s.sions are fostered, and when these become excited the Turk can not be surpa.s.sed in brutal fury. All his fancies are gross; moral power is an incomprehensible idea, and he can conceive no authority not enforced by whip or sword.
The Turkish character thus exhibited corresponds with their estimate of the female s.e.x. The person alone is loved; intellect in a Turkish woman is rarely developed and never prized. She finds her chief employment in decorating her person, her sole enjoyment in lounging on a pile of cus.h.i.+ons, and admiring the elegance of her costume. Turkey is literally the empire of the senses.
Polygamy is now growing into disrepute there. Recent laws have conferred many privileges upon women in matters of property, and their comparative independence has rendered them averse to a position in which they only acquire secondary rank. Men who marry wives of equal rank to themselves frequently engage in their marriage contracts not to form a second alliance, and this stipulation is very seldom violated.
The customs of the country do not permit a man to see his wife before marriage. She may gratify her curiosity by a stealthy glance at him, but this privilege is seldom used. In consequence of the separation of the s.e.xes, a race of professional match-makers has arisen, as in China, who realize considerable profits from their calling. Children of three or four years old are sometimes betrothed, marriage taking place about fourteen.
When a wedding is contemplated, each family deputes an agent to arrange preliminaries, the terms of the contract are embodied in a legal doc.u.ment, and the woman is then called ”a wife by writing.” This is concluded some days before the actual wedding, but the interval is occupied with rejoicings and hospitality, on which the bridegroom generally expends a year's income. The union is a mere civil contract blessed by religious rites. All concubines are slaves, even in the harem of the sultan, since no free Turkish woman can occupy that position.
The morals of Turkish women are generally described as very loose. Their veils favor an intrigue, the most jealous husband pa.s.sing his wife in the street without knowing her. The places of a.s.signation are usually the Jews' shops, where they meet their lovers, but preserve their _incognito_ even to them. Lady Mary Wortley Montague imagined ”the number of faithful wives to be very small in a country where they have nothing to fear from a lover's indiscretion.”
The dancing girls of Turkey are prost.i.tutes by profession. Their performances are much enjoyed by all cla.s.ses, and they dance as lasciviously in the harem, where they are often invited to amuse the wives and concubines, as before a party of convivialists in the kiosks. Their costume is exceedingly rich, both in color and material. During the day they resort to coffee-houses, where they attach themselves to companions whom they entertain with songs, tales, or caresses until night, when their orgies are transferred to houses belonging to their chiefs. Many of these habitations are furnished with every possible luxury.
Another form of prost.i.tution is temporary marriage. For instance, a man on a journey will arrive in a strange city, where he desires to remain some time. He immediately bargains for a female companion, a regular agreement is drawn up, and he supports her and remunerates her friends while he remains. When he is tired of her, or wishes to leave the place, she returns to her friends, and patiently waits for another engagement of the same kind.
NORTHERN AFRICA.
A very brief notice only is required of the semi-barbarous states of Northern Africa, particularly as an account of Algeria under the French has already been given. The ma.s.s of the population are Moors, and therefore our remarks will mainly apply to them. Like the Turks, they are proud, ignorant, sensual, and depraved, and their treatment of women exactly accords with this character. They regard the female s.e.x but as material instruments of man's gratification; and this idea is become so generally received, that the sole education of a girl is such as will render her acceptable to some gross sensualist. Intellect and sentiment are not the possessions which will recommend her: _to be attractive, she must be fat_. A girl of such bulk as to be a good load for a camel is considered a perfect beauty, and, accordingly, the mother does not train her daughter in seductive arts, but feeds her into a seductive appearance, as pigeons are fed in some parts of Italy. She is made to swallow every day a certain number of b.a.l.l.s of paste saturated with oil, and the rod overcomes any reluctance she may have to the diet.
The Moors are extremely jealous of their enormous wives. Some have been known to kill their women before proceeding on a journey; others have forbidden them to name an animal of the masculine gender. They are entirely shut up within the walls of the harem, where they pa.s.s their time perfuming and decorating their persons, to attract the favor of their lords.