A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3Howard, George Elliott
History
A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3
Howard, George Elliott
Families; Marriage -- History
[135] STRABO, II, 515; LUBBOCK, _op. cit._,
131; GIRAUD-TEULON, _op. cit._, 3; POST,
_Geschlechtsgenoss._, 29, 43 ff; _Anfänge_, 21; especially
HELLWALD'S chapter entitled "Zeitehen und wilde
Ehen," _Die mensch. Familie_, 438 ff.; and KULISCHER,
"Communale Zeitehen," _Archiv für Anthropologie_, XI, 228 ff.;
WAITZ, _Anthropologie_, III, 105 (proof and temporary
marriages among American Indians); II, 114 (same in Africa);
KLEMM, _Kulturgeschichte_, II, 78 (N. A. Indians);
TURNER, in XI. _Rep. of Bureau of Eth._, 189 (Innuit);
MCGEE, _The Seri Indians_, in _XVII. Rep. of Bureau of
Eth._, Part I, 280.
[136] PLUTARCH, _Lycurgus_, c. 15 (Sparta);
FRIEDRICHS, "Ursprung des Matriarchats," _ZVR._, VIII,
372, 373; POST, _Anfänge_, 25; _Geschlechtsg._, 34
ff.; NADAILLAC, _L'évolution du mariage_, 17 ff.;
LUBBOCK, _Origin of Civilization_, 131, 132, who
mentions the well-known case of Cato's lending his wife Marcia
to his friend Hortensius; BUCH, _Die Wotjäken_,
48; KOHLER, in _ZVR._, III, 398, note (India), 399
(Germans); V, 336 (Wotjäken), 342 (Alaska), 353 (Creeks);
VII, 326 (Australia); VIII, 84 (Birma); XI, 422 (Kamerun);
JOLLY, in _ZVR._, IV, 331, 332 (Hindus); SMITH,
_Kinship and Marriage_, 116; WAITZ, _Anthropologie_,
II, 114 (Africa); NELSON, "The Eskimo about Bering
Strait," in _XVIII. Rep. of Bureau of Eth._, Part I, 292;
MCGEE, in _XV. Rep. of Bureau of Eth._, 178 (Sioux);
WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 74 n. 1, mentions, with the
sources of information, many tribes among whom wife-lending
prevails.
"Exchange of wives" is common among the Eskimo. "For instance,
one man of our acquaintance planned to go to the rivers deer
hunting in the summer of 1882, and borrowed his cousin's wife
for the expedition, as she was a good shot and a good hand at
deer hunting, while his own wife went with his cousin on the
trading expedition to the eastward. On their return the wives
went back to their respective husbands." Sometimes in such cases
the women are better pleased with their new mates and remain with
them. "According to GILDER (_Schwatka's Search_, 197)
it is a usual thing among friends in that region to exchange
wives for a week or two almost every two months." EGEDE
(_Greenland_, 139) says such temporary exchanges take place at
festivals. So also at Repulse Bay, at certain times there is said
to be a "general exchange of wives throughout the village, each
woman passing from man to man till she has been through the hands
of all, and finally returned to her husband."--MURDOCH,
"Point Barrow Expedition," _IX. Rep. of Bureau of Eth._, 413.
_Cf._ TURNER, "Ethnology of Ungava Dist.," _ibid._, 189.
The loaning of wife or daughter to a guest, or the prostitution
of the wife for hire, appears among some South American
tribes: MARTIUS, _Ethnographie_, I, 118; _idem_,
_Rechtszustande_, 65.
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