POLYGAMY 195 



coucubine openly, and the manner of their introduc- 

 tion to each other is regulated by custom. Upon 

 entering her new abode the concubine is expected to 

 show her respect for the wife by four salutations. 

 The wife receives the first salutation seated, at the 

 second she rises, and the third and fourth she returns. 

 If these formalities are disregarded on either side 

 domestic trouble ensues, and the plight in which the 

 unfortunate husband then finds himself is a frequent 

 theme of satire in Chinese comedy. Among the 

 Buddhists, as among the Mahomedans, a woman's 

 property has a steadying effect upon her matrimonial 

 fortunes, but her personal claims to consideration are 

 nowhere recognised. 



Throughout the East it may be said, generally, that 

 the instinct of selection, and many concurrent senti- 

 ments which tend to the development of higher social 

 states out of lower ones, are systematically repressed 

 or violated. We know by familiar experience that 

 every breach of Nature's rules involves a penalty. 

 The man who disregards the principles of health 

 drags out a feeble and unprofitable existence, if he 

 does not promptly pay for his temerity with his life. 

 Nations are subject to the same law, and in the 

 virtual subordination of the teeming millions of Asia 



