DUTIES OF WIVES 337 



As I have stated, polygamy is quite customary, 

 only the poorest limiting himself to one wife. I 

 have been informed by missionaries and others that 

 the chief difficulty they experience in their efforts 

 to root out this custom consists in the fact that the 

 more wives a man has the greater consideration he 

 receives in a country in which wealth and social 

 distinction are reckoned by the number of consorts 

 the individual can afford himself. Still, even this 

 claim has its limits, and though three or four wives 

 are not regarded as an extravagant number, pro- 

 bably very few of even the most revered of the 

 native colossi ever exceed nine or ten. The first 

 wife married is the one to whom aU subsequent 

 additions to the marital establishment owe obedi- 

 ence. I have ascertained that as a rule the female 

 members of the establishment get on very well 

 together, although not a few cases are known in 

 which the harmony has been sacrificed by most 

 saddening acts of feminine rivalry. 



Broadly speaking, the woman may claim fi-om 

 her husband as a right food, clothing, and a dwelling 

 to herself, separate, that is, from the other female 

 establishments. He is bound to keep her house in 

 good order, to pay her taxes, and in all other ways 

 to assist and support her and her children in sick- 

 ness and in health. The woman, on the other 

 hand, incurs on marriage the duty of labouring in 

 the gardens, drawing water twice daily, bringing 

 in firewood, cooking food, and, lastly, bearing as 

 many children as possible. Should she fail in this 

 latter important obligation, she may be repu- 

 diated after a certain period and returned to 



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