MARITAL JEALOUSY 213 



might not marry again we may readily surmise that 

 she did not refrain from the company of men, and that 

 any children she may have borne in consequence would 

 belong to her husband. With regard to Alexander's 

 evidence the transaction with the white men would 

 certainly not come within a Hottentot definition of 

 adultery ; nor doubtless would such transactions occur 

 only with white men. Alexander himself reports that 

 sometimes two chiefs would have four wives between 

 them ; l and an earlier traveller says it frequently 

 happened that a woman married two husbands. 2 

 Alexander's other statement given above finds abun- 

 dant confirmation. Among the Hottentots, as in other 

 polygynic societies, the multiplication of wives leads 

 inevitably to irregular connections the more or less 

 open recognition of which is not uncommon. We 

 are therefore not surprised to learn that in some tribes 

 a woman frequently has " a real husband and a locum 

 tenens or substitute," and that among the Korana 

 every wife has a lover. 3 Apart from this their dances 

 were occasions of sensuality. The pot-dance of the 

 Hottentots in Cape Colony lasted several days during 

 which unbridled licence reigned, though it is alleged 

 that children probably begotten during this period 

 were all put to death. The nightly dances of the 

 Korana are also described as distinguished by 

 tasciviousness. Fritsch's verdict on the Colonial 

 Hottentots, that they were certainly not remarkable 

 for excessive chastity, is applicable to all. 4 



Among the Bushmen, as we saw in the last chapter, 

 there is little difficulty in putting an end to the con- 



1 Alexander, i. 169. 2 Thunberg, ii. 193. 



3 M 42, 64; Stow, 96. * Fritsch, 328, 375, 329, J 



