§2 
fill worfe, turned out, pennylefs, to 
feek their fortune.—If a man has 
two daughters, the eldeft, at her 
Marriage, is entitled to all her mo- 
ther’s pofleffions, which are by far 
the greater part of the family eftate, 
as the mother, keeping up her pre- 
rogative, never parts with the power 
over any portion of what fhe has 
brought into the family, until the is 
forced into it by the marriage of 
her daughter, and the father alfo is 
compelled to ruin himfelf by add- 
ing whatever he may have fcraped 
together by his induftry—The fe- 
cond daughter inherits nothing, and 
is condemned to perpetual celi- 
bacy.—She is ftyled a Calogria, 
which fignifies properly a religious 
woman or nun, and is in effeét me- 
nial fervant to her filter, being em- 
ployed by her in any office fhe may 
think fit to impofe, frequently ferv- 
ing her as waiting maid, as cook, 
and often in employments ftill more 
degrading.—She wears a habit pe- 
culiar to her fituation, which fhe 
can never change, a fort of mo- 
naftick drefs, coarfe, and of dark 
brown. One advantage however fhe 
enjoys over her fifter, that whereas 
the elder, before marriage, is never 
allowed to go abroad, or to fee any 
man, her neareft relations only ex- 
cepted, the Calogria, except when 
employed in domeftick toil, is in 
this refpect at perfect liberty —But 
when the fifter is married, the fitu- 
ation of the poor Calogria becomes 
defperate indeed, and is rendered 
ftill more humiliating by the com- 
parifon between her condition and 
that of her happy miftrefs: The 
married fifter enjoys’ every fort of 
liberty—the whole family fortune 
* This f{pecies of finery, which prevails through many of the iflands, is never e 
worn in Metelin, but when full drefs is deemed neceflary. 
x 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
is her’s, and fhe fpends it as fhe 
pleafes—her hufband is her obfe- 
quious fervant—her father and mo- 
ther are dependant upon her—fhe 
dreffles in the moft magnificent 
manner, covered all over, accordin 
to the fafhion of the ifland, wit 
pearls and with pieces of gold, 
which are commonly fequins * ; 
thus continually carrying about her 
the enviable marks of affluence 
and fuperiority, while the wretched 
Calogria follows her as a fervant, 
arrayed in fimple homefpun brown, 
and without the moft diftant hope 
of ever changing her condition. 
Such a difparity may feem intole- 
rable, but what will not cuftom re- 
concile? Neither are the misfor- 
tunes of the family yet at an end-— 
The father and mother, with what 
little is left them, contrive by their 
induftry to accumulate a fecond 
little fortune, and this, if they 
fhould have a third daughter, they. 
are obliged to give to her upon her 
marriage, and the fourth, if there 
fhould be one, becomes her Calo- 
gria; and fo on through all the 
daughters alternately. Whenever 
the daughter is marriageable, fhe 
can by cuftom compel the father 
to procure her a hufband, and the: 
mother, fuch is the power of habit, 
is foolifh enough to join in teazing 
him into an immediate compliance, 
though its confequences muft be 
equally fatal and ruinous to both 
of them, From hence it happens 
that nothing is more common than 
to fee the old father and mother 
reduced to the utmoft indigence, 
and even begging about the ftreets, 
while their unnatural daughters are 
in affluence ; and we ourfelves have 
frequently 
, 
