104 I'SKKl'L PLANTS <)K Ol'AM. 



inoi'tliiiiilrlv \aiii. coiisidciiiii;- tlKMiiselvcs to Ijc incii of the greatest 

 j>*oiiiiis :iii(l wiscloin in tlie world, in coinpari.soii with whom Jill other 

 nations wei'c contempt iblc I'lu y attached oreat importance to caste, 

 and had sharply detined lines between families of hi<;h. low, and middle 

 (extraction. This led the early fathers to imai>-ine that they nuist ])e 

 descendants of some polite nation. "Thus it is seen,"" saA's Padre 

 (larcia, ""how Pride, hanished from Heaven, dwells in all parts of the 

 earth, j^oino- in some nations clothed and in others naked.'''' Under 

 no consideration could a (yhamon'i. or noble, marry a girl of common 

 caste, though she might be rich and he i)oor. In ancient times it was 

 even customary foi- kinsmen to kill a noble who for love or for gain 

 should disgrace his fanul\' l)y such a marriage. People of low caste were 

 not permitted to eat or drink in the houses of nobles or even to come 

 near them. If they wished to communicate with them, they must do so 

 from a distance. This custom was especially marked among the nol)les 

 living at Agansi, whei'e, on account of the excellence of the water and 

 for other advantages of the site, lived the nobles of the highest rank. 

 They were regarded by all the rest of the island with fear and respect. 

 In this town there were 63 houses in which the nobility lived. The 

 rest, about a hundred and lifty, belonging to the common people, 

 occupied a position apart and were not considered as a ])art of the 

 town or of the court. The prejudice of caste was one of the lirst 

 difficulties encountered by the earl}" missionaries. The chiefs did not 

 consider it seeml}" that people of low caste should share with them the 

 benefits of baptism, saying that so noble an institution as the fathers 

 taug'ht them to regard it should be enjoyed only by the nobilit}^ and 

 not b}' plebeians; and, indeed, the fathers had great difficult}^ in over- 

 coming the fear of the common people, so firmly rooted was their 

 feeling of abasement in the presence of their betters.'^ 



SOl'IAL INSTITCTIOXS AM) (TsTO.MS. 



Marriage. — Thougli more than one wife was permitted, 3"et a man 

 had, as a rule, only one. Marriage between relatives was strictly 

 forbidden. The wife was essentially the head of the family. Adulter}' 

 on the part of a man was punished in various manners. Sometimes 

 the injured wife wovdd call together the other women of the village, 

 and putting on their husbands' hats and arming themselves with spears, 

 they would go to the house of the adulterer, destroy his growing crops, 

 and. making a demonstration as though about to spear him, they would 

 drive him from his house. At other times the injured wife would 

 punish her husband by deserting him, whereupon her relations 

 would assemble at his house and carry away all the property, leaving 



« Garcia, Vida y Martyrio de Sanvitores, p. 199, 1683. '^Idern., p. 219, 



