Among the Beni-Mzab, a man who speaks in the street to a married woman of quality is punished with a fine of two hundred francs and banishment for four years.[654] In the Nile countries and many other parts of Africa, it is customary for the men to preserve the fidelity of their wives in a way not unlike a method used in the age of the Crusades.[655] With reference to the inhabitants of Fida, Bosman tells us that a rich negro will not suffer any man to enter the houses where his wives reside, and on the least suspicion will sell them to the Europeans;[656] whilst in Dahomey, if a wayfarer meets any of the royal wives on the road, a bell warns him “to turn off or stand against a wall while they pass.”[657] That jealousy is a powerful agent in the social life of civilized nations is a fact which it is unnecessary to dwell upon. In Mohammedan countries, a woman is not allowed to receive male visitors, or to go out unveiled,[658] it being unlawful for the Moslem to see the faces of any other women than those whom he is forbidden to marry and his own wives and female slaves.[659] A man who penetrates into the harem of another man may easily lose his life; and Dr. Polak states that, in Persia, a European physician cannot, without being considered indecent, even ask about the health of a Mohammedan’s wife and daughter, though they are ill.[660] Again, in Japan, as I am told by a native of the country, it was customary for women when getting married, to have their eyebrows shaved off, because thick and beautiful eyebrows are considered one of a woman’s greatest ornaments. At the same time, according to Mr. Balfour, their teeth are stained black, which can only have the effect of making the wife less attractive to the husband,—as well as to other men.[661] This reminds us of the wide-spread practice of depriving a woman of her ornaments as soon as she is married. The prevalence of jealousy in the human race is best shown by the punishments inflicted for adultery; although it may be that the proprietary feeling here plays an important part. In a savage country a seducer may be thankful if he escapes by paying to the injured husband the value of the bride or some other fine, or if the penalty is reduced to a flogging, to his head being shaved, his ears cut off, one of his eyes destroyed, his legs speared, &c., &c. He must consider himself very lucky if he is merely paid in his own coin, or if the punishment falls on his wife, who, in that case, seems to be looked upon as the real cause of her husband’s unfaithfulness.[662] Most commonly, among uncivilized nations, the seducer is killed, adultery on the woman’s side being considered a heinous crime, for which nothing but the death of the offender can atone. Among the Waganda, it is, as a rule, punished even more severely than murder;[663] and, in parts of New Guinea, capital punishment is said to be almost unknown except for adultery.[664]