MOTHERRIGHT 303 



protect her chastity. In case of adultery the punish- 

 ment is severe ; both parties were before the German, 

 occupation put to death without more ado. Countless 

 wars have been occasioned by adultery. 1 



Allowance must of course be made for the per-, 

 sistence of a juridical system after the reason for it has 

 passed away. If we found motherright wherever 

 there was uncertainty of paternity we might perhaps 

 be right in assuming that when we found it where 

 there was none, it was merely a survival from a stage 

 in which morality was laxer. This, however, is by no 

 means the case. The Kafirs of the Hindu- Kush 

 practise the strictest fatherright but that Kafir would 

 be of a highly sporting disposition who ventured to 

 stake much on the authenticity of any child of whom 

 he was legally the father. Sir George Robertson 

 says: "Young women are very immoral, not because 

 their natural disposition is either better or worse than 

 that of women of other tribes and races, but because 

 public opinion is all in favour of what may be called 

 ' gallantry.' When a woman is discovered in an 

 intrigue a great outcry is made, and the neighbours 

 rush to the scene with much laughter. A goat is sent 

 for on the spot for a peace-making feast between, 

 the gallant and the husband. Of course the neigh- 

 bours also partake of the feast ; the husband and wife 

 both look very happy, and so does every one else 

 except the lover, who has to pay for the goat, and, 

 who knows that he or his family must also pay the 

 full penalty, sooner or later." The customary penalty 

 is six cows. " There are several households in 

 Kamdesh whose sole property in cows consists of the 

 1 Father Josef Meier, Anthropos, ii. 380. 



