MARITAL JEALOUSY 127 



men and women had promiscuous intercourse in public. 1 

 The same festival with the same rite is celebrated also 

 on the islands of the Babar Sermata and Luang 

 group. The men of Luang too go for months to- 

 gether on journeys, and the wives left behind very 

 often forget them. Some indeed lay themselves out 

 to seduce the men who remain, especially strangers, 

 so as to profit by their fines on their husbands' return. 

 For on all these islands any jealousy that may be 

 entertained by a husband is not due to the injury 

 inflicted on his wife's virtue by her infidelity, or to the 

 loss of her affection ; nor of course is it the contamina- 

 tion of the blood of her descendants, since the mother 

 alone counts as the source of kinship. It is simply 

 and solely because she is regarded as property. 2 The 

 people of the Timorlaut islands, who are, as we have 

 seen, on the border-line between motherright and 

 fatherright, are by no means faithful spouses. The 

 men make great use of magical means to excite love 

 on the part of the women whom they desire. The 

 favourite prescription is a philtre composed of finely 

 chopped roots mixed with lime prepared by the lover 

 himself, and believed to be extremely potent. It 

 is forbidden therefore to unmarried men to prepare 

 lime, though it is universally made use of for chewing 

 with pinang. Inasmuch as sexual intercourse is free 

 to the unmarried and always precedes marriage, it is 

 obvious that this prohibition is not aimed at the 

 seduction of unmarried girls. Husband and wife 



1 Riedel, 370, 384, 387, 390, 372. 



2 Van Hoevell, Int. Arch. viii. 134; Riedel, 314, 325, 323, 335, 

 351. As to the general meaning of the rite and the festival above 

 referred to see Frazer, G. B. ii. 205. 



