MARITAL JEALOUSY 187 



Mordvin girls from the age of fourteen have sexual 

 relations with the boys of the village, though they 

 hardly marry before twenty or twenty-five. Kinship 

 is no obstacle to their amours. Intercourse between 

 brothers and sisters is not unknown ; between remoter 

 kindred is frequent. If a girl become pregnant nobody 

 is shocked ; legitimate or not, a child is always wel- 

 comed as an addition to the family. The marriage 

 of mature women to boys with consequences like those 

 among the Cheremiss and the Buryats has not yet 

 been wholly put down. Apart from that, a Mordvin 

 husband is not too exacting about his wife's fidelity. 

 He is frequently compelled to be absent from home on 

 military service or public works, and his wife seems to 

 console herself very well in his absence. 1 With Votiak 

 girls chastity is no virtue, and the want of chastity no 

 vice. If they happen to have given birth to a child a 

 much higher bride-price is demanded for them and 

 their prospects of winning a rich husband are increased. 

 But they are said, having sown their wild oats, to 

 become faithful and affectionate wives. These qualities 

 admit of obedience to the husband when he relin- 

 quishes the conjugal bed and spouse to a guest whom 

 it is desired to honour. 2 Among the Ossetes the 

 father purchases a wife for his infant son and has 

 conjugal relations with her. Formerly, if a man for 

 any reason preferred not to cohabit with any of his 

 wives he could look out for some one to take his place 

 at all events^ with a secondary if not with the 

 principal wife. The levirate is observed ; and where 



1 Smirnov, i. 337, 348. 



2 Featherman, Tur. 530; Post, Studien, 345, citing Kohler, 

 Zeits, vergl. Rechtsw. v. 306. 



