audekt or so**] SURVEY OF MATERIAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL CULTURE 27 



incurred during the previous transactions. No case of a discontinuance of the marriage proceed- 

 ings ever passed under my observation. 



The father has theoretically full power over his wife and children, but in practice his domestic 

 jurisdiction is of the most lenient kind. Marital affection and filial devotion reign in the house- 

 hold. 



The husband may not marry a second wife during the lifetime of the first without the latter's 

 consent. This rule, as well as the lack of sufficient worldly possessions to purchase another help- 

 mate, makes polygamy comparatively infrequent. 



The bridegroom is supposed to live with his father-in-law or with the previous owner of his 

 wife, very often his wife's brother, but nearly always sets up his own establishment a few years 

 after marriage. 



With the exception of adultery, fornication, rape, and wanton homicide, all crimes presuppose 

 an appeal to arbitration. The one that is the author of another's death is the one on whom 

 vengeance must be taken, if it is possible. 



When an outraged party is unable to obtain redress by arbitration or by the direct reprisal, 

 he avenges himself on a third party, preferably a relative of his enemy, by killing him or by seiz- 

 ing his property. He thus brings matters to a head. It is usual to compound with the relatives 

 of this third party, either for the death or for the seizure, on condition that they will league them- 

 selves with the one who is seeking revenge, in opposition to the original wrongdoer or that they 

 themselves will undertake, as his paid agents, to wreak vengeance on his enemy. 



Minor offenses are punished by fines that are determined by arbitration. These fines vary 

 in amount, but nearly always include a feast, more or less elaborate, the expenses of which are 

 borne by the party that lost the case. 



The arbitration of a question may be made immediately after it has arisen or it may not be 

 brought about for weeks or months. When the discussion has begun it is not considered politic 

 for either side to yield at once. Threats are bandied between the principals until, through the 

 influence of friendly chiefs, they are brought together. Then the relatives discuss the affair, each 

 side exaggerating its own view of the question. It is only after lengthy discussions, and the use of 

 similitudes and allegories, loud shouts, dissimulation, and through the sagacity and influence of 

 the chief men that the opinions of the parties are so molded that an agreement is reached. 



It may be necessary to determine the offense. This is done by witnesses who give, as far as 

 I have been able to judge, truthful testimony. Whenever the veracity of a witness is doubted he 

 may be obliged to take a kind of oath which consists in the burning of beeswax. A little beeswax 

 is melted by holding a firebrand over it. While this is being done, the person whose veracity it is 

 desired to test, utters a wish that in case of falsehood his body may be melted like the wax. In 

 the case of suspects, ordeals are employed. They consist of making the parties under suspicion 

 either plunge their hands into boiling water, or undergo the diving test, or take the candle ordeal. 



Circumstantial evidence is admissible. By means of it, the authors of hidden crimes are 

 often brought to punishment after years of patient waiting. 



It is customary for the guilty one to make at least a partial payment immediately after the 

 arbitration, and to treat the assembly to a banquet in which it is good form for the two opponents 

 to close the breaches of friendship by generous quaffs to each other's health. 



