194 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. i. 



sons would marry with the certain prospect of 

 being obliged thus to fall from their class, and to 

 lower in so marked a manner their condition in 



life. 



In addition to this, the choice of a wife seems 

 to be a point of considerable difficulty. A man 

 might remain unmarried for some time, before he 

 could find exactly such a companion as the legis- 

 lator prescribes. Ten families of a certain de- 

 scription, be they ever so great or ever so rich in 

 kine, goats, sheep, gold and grain, are studiously 

 to be avoided. Girls with too little or too much 

 hair, who are too talkative, who have bad eyes, 

 a disagreeable name or any kind of sickness, who 

 have no brother, or whose father is not well 

 known, are all, with many others, excluded ; and 

 the choice will appear to be in some degree con- 

 fined, when it must necessarily rest upon a girl 

 " whose form has no defect; who has an agree- 

 " able name ; who walks gracefully, like a pheni- 

 " copteros or a young elephant ; whose hair and 

 " teeth are moderate respectively in quantity and 

 " size ; whose body has exquisite softness."* 



It is observed, that a woman of the servile class 

 is not mentioned, even in the recital of any an- 

 cient story, as the wife of a Brahmen or of a 

 Cshatriya, though in the greatest difficulty to 

 find a suitable match ; which seems to imply, that 

 such a difficulty might sometimes occur.t 



* Sir William Jones's Works, vol. iii. c. iii. p. 1 20. 

 t Id. p. 121. 



