ON POLYANDRY. 807 



lias tlie right of succession to the widow and the property. And 

 what has occurred in Ladak has certainly occurred elsewhere. As 

 the sexes became more equally balanced, younger brothers would 

 prefer taking wives to themselves to being the associated hus- 

 bands of their eldest brother's wife. Polyandry would die out, 

 but the law of succession to property, stable as all such laws are, 

 would be perpetuated through custom, and, as in the days of poly- 

 andry the heir used to take the widow with the property, so would 

 he continue to take the two together after polyandry had disap- 

 peared. 



To enumerate all the peoples among whom it is the rule for 

 the brother to succeed to a deceased elder brother's property and 

 wives would occupy far too much space. The custom is almost 

 universal among the lower races, and it will be sufficient to men- 

 tion a few of the most striking examples. Among the Malays, a 

 man is not obliged to marry the widow of a brother, but if he 

 does so he becomes liable for all the obligations of the deceased.* 

 Here we see that to marry the widow is the counterpart of the 

 legal right of succession to the property. Among the Afghans it 

 is incumbent on a man to marry his elder brother's widow, and 

 the custom is so strongly insisted upon that any departure from 

 it is counted a scandal and a blot upon the character of the parties 

 concerned.! Among the Shushwap Indians (British Columbia), 

 if a man dies childless, his brother must marry the widow. In 

 Guzerat (India), the widow of an elder brother invariably de- 

 volves upon a younger, and the law is equally imperative with 

 the Somali s (East Africa), the Damaras (South Africa), the 

 people of the New Hebrides, and many others. In New Zealand, 

 Samoa, Fiji, West Africa, Mongolia, and other localities it is 

 usual for the brother to marry the brother's widow ; but if she 

 feels any repugnance she may, subject to certain penalties, return 

 to her own family. 



In course of time, through the custom of the widow and the 

 property always passing to the next brother, as heir, it becomes 

 the custom for the heir, even when not the brother of the deceased, 

 to inherit the widow as well as the property ; and what occurs 

 in some of these cases shows clearly that the practice is derived 

 from polyandry. For just as the brother " raises up seed " to a 

 deceased brother, so in some cases does the heir, even when a 

 son, " raise up seed " to the relative from whom he inherits. 

 Thus the Makololb chief " Sekeletu, according to the system of 

 the Bechuanas, became possessor of his father's wives, and adopt- 

 ed two of them ; the children by these women are, however, in 



* Crawford, Dictionary of the Indian Islands, article Marriage, 

 f Mission to Afghanistan, p. 27. 



