[614] LETOURNEAU, _op. cit._, 143, 144. _Cf._ KOEHNE, "Das Recht der Kalmücken," _ZVR._, IX, 461 ff., who shows that the Kalmuck wife is in a relatively worthy position. [615] WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 394, 395; JAMIESON, _China Review_, X, 78. But compare MÖLLENDORFF, _Das chinesische Familienrecht_, 21, 23, _passim_; and SMITH, _Village Life in China_, chap. xxiii. According to HUC, _Chinese Empire_, II, 225 ff., the price is paid in two instalments, one part at the signing of the contract, another a few days before the wedding. Gifts are also made by the bridegroom's parents; while the bride's parents provide her with a trousseau. _Cf._ KOHLER, "Aus dem chinesischen Civilrecht," _ZVR._, VI, 365 ff., 405, 406; LETOURNEAU, _op. cit._, 144, 145; RATZEL, _Hist. of Mankind_, III, 493-508; KLEMM, _Kulturgeschichte_, VI, 102-24. In all branches of the Semitic race marriage, at some time, has been a matter of simple sale and purchase. The married woman, in early Arabia, was looked upon as merely a bond servant. "I charge you with your women," says the prophet, "for they are with you as captives." Accordingly, Robertson Smith informs us, in Arabic lexicons _áwânî_, or "captives," is "actually used in the sense of married women generally."[616] The _mahr_, or bride-price, was paid to the woman's kindred. But under Islam it has become identical with the _sadâc_, or present to the bride, the two terms being synonymous.[617] The Arabic _mahr_ is the same as the Syriac _mahrâ_ and the Hebrew _móhar_; and in each case it is paid to the damsel's father.[618] In the early days of Israel, apparently, the amount of the bride-price established was fifty shekels of silver;[619] and Boaz actually declares that he has purchased Ruth the Moabitess to be his wife.[620] At this time, however, the context shows that marriage among the Jews was something more than a mere bargain, though there can be little doubt that actual wife-purchase originally existed. "At a later date, a girl was, until puberty, at the disposal of her father, who could either sell her or marry her to whom he pleased, being a Hebrew. There were, however, certain conditions, one of which was that the purchaser could not sell the girl to another person, and if he did not espouse her, or marry her to his son, he was bound, when she reached the age of puberty, or at the end of six years, to aid her in obtaining freedom by reclaiming from her father the price paid for her services."[621] "In the betrothal by _kasaph_, of the later Talmudic law, purchase appears as a mere survival. The man gives to his chosen bride, in the presence of two witnesses, a piece of money or some other gift of equal value, with the words: 'Be thou consecrated to me.' Even the _peruta_ or smallest coin used in Palestine or some unimportant friendly service was legally sufficient;[622] and this sham purchase has been perpetuated in the modern Jewish ceremony of 'marrying by the penny.'"[623]