Female Scripture Biography Volume II Part 16

The wives of people of rank are always confined to their apartments from motives of jealousy; those of a middle cla.s.s are a kind of upper servants deprived of liberty; and the wives of the lower orders are mere domestic drudges. The handsomest women are usually purchased for the courts and princ.i.p.al mandarins.

"We can readily," says a respectable writer, "give credit to the custom of a landlord taking the wife of a ryat or peasant, as a pledge for rent, and keeping her till the debt is discharged (in the kingdom of Nepaul;) since we know, on the best authority, that their wise polished neighbours, the Chinese, have found it necessary to enact a prohibitory statute against lending wives and daughters on hire." [65]

Another writer observes, "Since the philosophical inquiry into the condition of the weaker s.e.x, in the different stages of society, published by Millar, [66] it has been universally considered as an infallible criterion of barbarous society, to find the women in a state of great degradation. Scarcely among savages themselves is the condition of women more wretched and humiliating than among the Chinese. A very striking picture of the slavery and oppression to which they are doomed, but too long for insertion in this place, is drawn by M. Vanbraam. [67] Mr. Barrow informs us, that among the rich, the women are imprisoned slaves; among the poor, drudges; 'many being,' says he, 'compelled to work with an infant upon the back, while the husband, in all probability, is gaming,--I have frequently seen women,' he adds, 'a.s.sisting to drag a sort of light plough, and the harrow. The easier task, that of directing the machine, is left to the husband.' [68] The Chinese value their daughters so little, that when they have more children than they can easily maintain, they hire the midwives to stifle the females in a basin of water as soon as they are born.' [69] Nothing can exceed the contempt towards women which the maxims of the most celebrated of their lawgivers express. 'It is very difficult,' said Confucius himself, 'to govern women and servants; for if you treat them with gentleness and familiarity, they lose all respect; if with rigour, you will have continual disturbance.'

"Women are debarred almost entirely from the rights of property; and they never inherit. Among the worst savage nations, their daughters are sold to their husbands, and are received and treated as slaves. [70] When society has made a little progress, the purchase-money is received only as a present, and the wife, nominally at least, is not received as a slave.

Among the Chinese, the daughter, with whom no dowry is given, it uniformly exchanged for a present; and so little is the transaction, even on a purchase, disguised, that Mr. Barrow has no scruple to say, 'the daughters may be said to be invariably sold.' [71] He a.s.sures us, that 'it is even a common practice among the Chinese to sell their daughters, that they may he brought up as prost.i.tutes.' [72] [73]

BIRMAN EMPIRE. This extensive dominion comprehends the state of Pegu, Ava, Arracan, and Siam. Women are not secluded from the society of men, but they are held in great contempt. Their evidence is undervalued in judicial proceedings. The lower cla.s.ses sell their women to strangers, who do not, however, seem to feel themselves degraded. In Pegu, Siam, Cochin China, and other districts, adultery is regarded as honourable. Herodotus mentions a people called Gendanes, where the debas.e.m.e.nt of the female character is such, that their misconduct is an occasion of boasting and a source of distinction.

HINDOOSTAN. The following extracts, from the letters of the Baptist missionaries, in India, will speak volumes, and might, if it were necessary, be corroborated by a thousand similar citations.

At an early period of the Baptist mission to India, Dr. Carey communicated the following interesting account to a friend:--"As the burning of women with their husbands is one of the most singular and striking customs of this people, and also very ancient, as you will see by the _Reek Bede_, which contains a law relating to it, I shall begin with this. Having just read a Shanscrit book, called _Soordhee Sungraha_, which is a collection of laws from the various Shasters, arranged under their proper heads, I shall give you an extract from it, omitting some sentences, which are mere verbal repet.i.tions. Otherwise, the translation may be depended on as exact. The words prefixed to some of the sentences are the names of the original books from which the extracts are made.

"_Angeera._ After the husband's death, the virtuous wife who burns herself with him, [74] is like an Asoondhatee, [75] and will go to bliss.--If she be within one day's journey of the place where he dies, and indeed virtuous, the burning of his corpse shall be deferred one day for her arrival.

"_Brahma Pooran_. If the husband die in another country, the virtuous wife shall take any of his effects; for instance, a sandal, and binding it on her thigh, shall enter the fire with it. [76]

"_Reek, Bede._ If a wife thus burn with her husband, it is not suicide; and her relations shall observe three days' uncleanness for her; after which her _Shraddha_ [77] must he properly performed.--If she cannot come to the place, or does not receive an account of her husband's death, she shall wait the appointed ten days of uncleanness, [78] and may afterwards die in a separate fire.--If she die in a separate fire, three days' uncleanness will be observed; after which the _Pinda_ must be performed.--After the uncleanness on account of the husband is over, the _Shraddha_ must be performed according to the commandment.--Three days after his death, the _Dospinda_ [79] must be made, and after ten days the regular _Shraddha_.

"_Goutam. Brahmmanee_ can only die with her husband, on which account she cannot burn in another fire. When a woman dies with her husband, the eldest son, or nearest relation, shall set fire to the pile; whose office also it is to perform the _Dospinda_, and all the obsequies. He who kindles the fire shall perform the _Dospinda_: [80] but her own son, or nearest relations, must perform the _Shraddha_.--If a woman burn separately, only three days' uncleanness will be observed for her; but if in the same fire ten days.

"_Asouch Shunkar_. If another person die before the last day of uncleanness for a death or birth, then the uncleanness on account of the second person's death will be included in the first, and the time not lengthened out.

"_Bishnoo Pooran_. If the husband die in war, only present uncleanness, or till bathing, will be observed for him: if, therefore, the wife burn with him only one night's uncleanness will be observed for her; but, if in a separate fire, three days; and in that case the husband's _Pinda_ will be at the end of three days.--If the husband and wife burn in one fire, they will obtain separate offerings of the _Shraddha_.--If a woman die with her husband voluntarily, the offerings to her, and all her obsequies will be equal to his.--If they die within a _t.i.thee_, or lunar day, the offerings will be made to both at the same time.--If the person be _Potect_, or sinful; that is, has killed a _Brahmman_, or drinks spirituous liquors, or has committed some sin in his former life, on account of which he is afflicted with elephantiasis, consumption, leprosy, &c. [81] all will be blotted out by his wife burning with him, after proper atonement has been made. [82]--A woman with a young child, or being pregnant, cannot burn with her husband.--If there be a proper person to educate the infant, she may be permitted to burn.--If any woman ascend the pile, and should afterward decline to burn, through love of life or earthly things, she shall perform the penance _Prazapatya_, and will then be free from sin.'" [83]

The following statement is taken from the more recent communication of another of the Baptist missionaries to India:--

"Jan. 9, 1807. A person informing us that a woman was about to be burnt with the corpse of her husband near our house, I, with several of our brethren, hastened to the place; but, before we could arrive, the pile was in flames. It was a horrible sight. The most shocking indifference and levity appeared among those who were present: I never saw anything more brutal than their behaviour. The dreadful scene had not the least appearance of a religious ceremony, It resembled an abandoned rabble of boys in England, collected for the purpose of worrying to death a cat or a dog. A bamboo, perhaps twenty feet long, had been fastened at one end to a stake driven in the ground, and held down over the fire by men at the other. Such were the confusion, the levity, the bursts of brutal laughter, while the poor woman was burning alive before their eyes, that it seemed as if every spark of humanity was extinguished by this cruel superst.i.tion. That which added to the cruelty was, the smallness of the fire. It did not consist of so much wood as we consume in dressing a dinner: no, not this fire that was to consume the living and the dead! I saw the legs of the poor creature hanging out of the fire, while her body was in flames. After a while they took a bamboo, ten or twelve feet long, and stirred it, pushing and beating the half-consumed corpse, as you would repair a fire of green wood, by throwing the unconsumed pieces into the middle. Perceiving the legs hanging out, they beat them with the bamboo for some time, in order to break the ligatures which fastened them at the knees; (for they would not have come near to touch them for the world.) At length, they succeeded in binding them upwards into the fire; the skin and muscles giving way, and discovering the knee-sockets bare, with the b.a.l.l.s of the leg bones; a sight this, which, I need not say, made me thrill with horror; especially when I recollected that this hopeless victim of superst.i.tion was alive but a few minutes before. To have seen savage wolves thus tearing a human body limb from limb, would have been shocking; but to see relations and neighbours do this to one with whom they had familiarly conversed not an hour before, and to do it with an air of levity, was almost too much for me to bear! Turning to the Brahmman who was the chief actor in this horrid tragedy, a young fellow of about twenty-two, and one of the most hardened that ever I accosted, I told him that the system which allowed of these cruelties, could no more proceed from G.o.d than darkness from the sun; and warned him, that he must appear at the judgment-seat of G.o.d, to answer for this murder. He, with a grin, full of savage contempt, told me that 'he gloried in it, and felt the highest pleasure in performing the deed.' I replied, 'that his pleasure might be less than that of his Master; but seeing it was in vain to reason with him, I turned to the people, and expostulated with them. One of them answered, that 'the woman had burnt herself of her own free choice, and that she went to the pile as a matter of pleasure.'--'Why, then, did you confine her down with that large bamboo?'--'If we had not, she would have run away'--'What, run away from pleasure!' I then addressed the poor lad, who had been thus induced to set fire to his mother. He appeared about nineteen. 'You have murdered your mother! your sin is great. The sin of the Brahmman, who urged you to it, is greater; but yours is very great.'--'What could I do? It is the custom.'--'True, but this custom is not of G.o.d; but proceedeth from the devil, who wishes to destroy mankind.

How will you bear the reflection that you have murdered your only surviving parent?' He seemed to feel what was said to him; but, just at this instant, that hardened wretch, the Brahmman, rushed in, and drew him away, while the tears were standing in his eyes. After reasoning with some others, and telling them of the Saviour of the world, I returned home with a mind full of horror and disgust.

"You expect, perhaps, to hear that this unhappy victim was the wife of some Brahmman of high cast. She was the wife of a barber who dwelt at Serampore, and had died that morning, leaving the son I have mentioned, and a daughter about eleven years of age. Thus has this infernal superst.i.tion aggravated the common miseries of life, and left these children stripped of both their parents in one day! Nor is this an uncommon case. It often happens to children far more helpless than these; sometimes to children possessed of property, which is then left, as well as themselves, to the mercy of those who have decoyed their mother to their father's funeral pile." [84]

CEYLON. "Idolatrous procession. Each carriage has four wheels of solid wood, and requires two hundred men to drag it. When they are dragged along the streets, on occasions of great solemnity, women, in the phrensy of false devotion, throw themselves down before the wheels, and are crushed to death by their tremendous weight; the same superst.i.tious madness preventing the ignorant crowd from making any attempt to save them." [85]

SUMATRA. "The modes of marriage," says Mr. Marsden, "according to the original inst.i.tutions of these people, are by _jujur_, by _arnbel anak_, or by _Semando_. The jujur is a certain sum of money, given by one man to another, as a consideration for the person of his daughter, whose situation, in this case, differs not much from that of a slave to the man she marries, and to his family; his absolute property in her depends, however, upon some nice circ.u.mstances. Besides the _botang jupu,_ (or main sum,) there are certain appendages, or branches, one of which, the _tali kulo_, or five dollars, is usually, from motives of delicacy or friendship, left unpaid; and so long as that is the case, a relationship is understood to subsist between the two families, and the parents of the woman have a right to interfere on occasions of ill treatment; the husband is also liable to be fined for wounding her: with other limitations of absolute right. When that sum is finally paid, which seldom happens but in cases of violent quarrel, the _tali kulo_, (tie of relationship,) is said to be _putus_, (broken,) and the woman becomes to all intents the slave of her lord. She has then no t.i.tle to claim a divorce in any predicament; and he may sell her, making only the first offer to her relations."

Speaking of another part of the _country_, (Batta,) he says, "the men are allowed to marry as many wives as they please or can afford, and to have half a dozen is not uncommon. The condition of the women appears to be no other than that of slaves, the husbands having the power of selling their wives and children." [86]

JAVA. At Bantam, and in other parts of the island, fathers betroth their children at a very early age, lest they should be taken from them to supply the harems of kings, or be sold for slaves on the death of the fathers by the monarch, who is heir of all his subjects. [87]

Among all the nations of Southern Asia, and the East Indian and South Sea Islands, the women are despised and oppressed; the wives and daughters of every cla.s.s are offered to strangers, and compelled to prost.i.tute themselves. They are moreover used with the utmost cruelty by their husbands, and not permitted to eat, or even to sit down, in the presence of the men; and yet, with marvellous inconsistency, many nations allow themselves to be governed by women, who sometimes reign with despotic authority.

NEW HOLLAND. "The aboriginal inhabitants of this distant region are, indeed, beyond comparison, the most barbarous on the surface of the globe.

The residence of Europeans has been wholly ineffectual; the natives are still in the same state as at our first settlement. Every day are men and women to be seen in the streets of Sydney and Paramatta naked as in the moment of their birth. In vain have the more humane of the officers of the colony endeavoured to improve their condition: they still persist in the enjoyment of their ease and liberty in their own way, and turn a deaf ear to any advice upon this subject." [88]

"They observe no particular ceremony in their marriages, though their mode of courtship is not without its singularity. When a young man sees a female to his fancy, he informs her she must accompany him home; the lady refuses; he not only enforces compliance with threats, but blows; thus the gallant, according to the custom, never fails to gain the victory, and bears off the willing, though struggling pugilist. The colonists, for some time, entertained the idea that the women were compelled, and forced away against their inclinations; but the young ladies informed them, that this mode of gallantry was the custom, and perfectly to their taste." [89]

PERSIA. "Women are not allowed to join in the public prayers at the mosques. They are directed to offer up their devotions at home, or if they attend the place of public worship, it must be at a period when the male s.e.x are not there. This practice is founded upon the authority of the traditionary sayings of the prophet, and is calculated to confirm that inferiority and seclusion, to which the female s.e.x are doomed by the laws of Mahomed.

"In Persia, women are seldom publicly executed; nor can their crimes, from their condition in society, be often of a nature to demand such examples; but they are exposed to all the violence and injustice of domestic tyranny; and innocent females are too often included in the punishment of their husbands and fathers, particularly where those are of high rank. Instances frequently occur where women are tortured, to make them reveal the concealed wealth of which they are supposed to have a knowledge; and when a n.o.bleman or minister is put to death, it is not unusual to give away his wives and daughters as slaves; and sometimes (though rarely) they are bestowed on the lowest cla.s.ses in the community.

There are instances of the wives of men of high rank being given to mule-drivers." [90]

ARABIA. The ancient Arabs considered the birth of a daughter as a misfortune, and they frequently buried daughters alive as soon as they were born, lest they should be impoverished by having to provide for them, or should suffer disgrace on their account. [91]

"The horrid practice of female infanticide has been an usage of many nations. Among the ancient Arabs, as among the Rajpoots of the present day, it proceeded as much from a jealous sense of honour, as the pressure of want." [92]

Of eastern manners, in general, it has been remarked, that "excepting the Chinese and Javanese, all the nations of the south of Asia, and all the inhabitants of the East Indian and South Sea islands, offer the Europeans their wives and daughters, or compel them to prost.i.tute themselves to strangers." [93]

"A man, in the East, dares not inquire concerning the health of the wife or daughter of his most intimate friend, because this would instantly excite suspicion of illicit views and connections; neither does etiquette permit him to make mention himself of his own wife or daughter. They are included among the domestic animals, or comprehended in the general denomination of the house or the family. When, however, an Oriental is obliged to mention his wife or his daughter, in conversation with a physician, or any other person whom he wishes to treat with deference and respect, he always introduces the subject with some such apology as we make in Europe, when we are obliged to speak of things which are regarded as disgusting or obscene. Conformably with this Asiatic prejudice, Tamerlane was highly affronted with the vanquished Turkish emperor Bajazet, for mentioning, in his presence, such impure creatures as women are considered by the Orientals." [94]

AMERICA.

NORTHERN INDIANS.

Here all the gentle morals, such as play Through life's more cultur'd walks, and charm the way; These far dispers'd, on tim'rous pinions fly, To sport and flutter in a kinder sky.

GOLDSMITH.

The women cook the victuals, but though of the highest rank, they are never permitted to partake of it, till all the males, even the servants, have eaten what they think proper; and in times of scarcity, it is frequently their lot to be left without a single morsel; and should they be detected in helping themselves during the business of cookery, they would be subject to a severe beating; and be considered afterward, through life, as having forfeited their character.

"The accounts we have had of the effects of the small pox on that nation (the Maha Indians) are most distressing; it is not known in what way it was first communicated to them, though probably by some war party. They had been a military and powerful people; but when these warriors saw their strength wasting before a malady which they could not resist, their phrensy was extreme; they burnt their village, and many of them put to death their _wives_ and _children_, to save them from so cruel an affliction, and that all might go together to some better country." [95]

WEST INDIES. _Hayti_ (late St. Domingo.) Extract of a letter, dated Nov.

1810. "The Indigenes, or natives of Hayti, are extremely ignorant; but few can read: their religion is Catholic; but neither it, or its priests, are much respected. That they are in a most awful state of darkness, is but too evident: mothers are actually panders to their own daughters, and reap the fruit of their prost.i.tution. The endearing name of father is scarcely ever heard, as the children but rarely know to whom they are indebted for existence." [96]

SOUTH AMERICA. In this region there are whole nations of cannibals, who devour their captives. Sometimes they slay their own wives, and invite their neighbours to the repast.

NEW ZEALAND. "Tippechu, the chieftain," says Mr. Savage, "has a well-constructed dwelling on this island, and a large collection of spears, war-mail, and other valuables. A short distance, from the residence of the chief is an edifice, every way similar to a dove-cote, standing upon a single post, and not larger than dove-cotes usually are.

In this, Tippechu confined one of his daughters several years; we understood she had fallen in love with a person of inferior condition, and that these means were adopted to prevent her from bringing disgrace upon her family. The s.p.a.ce alloted to the lady would neither allow of her standing up, or stretching at her length; she had a trough, in which her food was deposited as often as was thought necessary, during her confinement; and I could not find that she was allowed any other accommodation. These privations, and all converse being denied her, proves that Tippechu was determined to exhibit a severe example to his subjects; at least to such of the young ladies of this part of New Zealand, as might be inclined to degrade themselves and their families by unsuitable alliances. The long confinement with all its inconveniences, produced the desired effect, in rendering the princess obedient to the wishes of her royal parent. This barbarous case, which is ornamented with much grotesque carving, still remains as a memento in _terrorem_ to all the young ladies under Tippechu's government." [97]

AFRICA.

TUNIS. "The Tunisines have a curious custom of fattening up their young ladies for marriage. A girl, after she is betrothed, is cooped up in a small room; shackles of silver and gold are put upon her ancles and wrists, as a piece of dress. If she is to be married to a man who has discharged, despatched, or lost a former wife, the shackles which the former wife wore, are put upon the new bride's limbs: and she is fed, until they are filled up to the proper thickness. This is sometimes no easy matter, particularly if the former wife was fat, and the present should be of a slender form. The food used for this custom, worthy of barbarians, is a seed called drough; which is of an extraordinary fattening quality, and also famous for rendering the milk of nurses rich and abundant. With this seed, and their national dish '_cuscusu_,' the bride is literally crammed, and many actually die under the spoon." [98]

MOROCCO. "When an ill-disposed husband becomes jealous or discontented with his wife, he has too many opportunities of treating her cruelly; he may tyrannize over her without control; no one can go to her a.s.sistance, for no one is authorized to enter his harem without permission. Jealousy or hatred rises so high in the breast of a Moor, that death is often the consequence to the wretched female, who has excited, perhaps innocently, the anger of her husband. A father, however fond of his daughter, cannot a.s.sist her even if informed of the ill treatment she suffers; the husband alone is lord paramount; if, however, he should he convicted of murdering his wife, he would suffer death; but this is difficult to ascertain, even should she bear the marks of his cruelty or dastardly conduct, for who is to detect it? Instances have been known, when the woman has been cruelly beaten and put to death, and the parents have been informed of her decease as if it had been occasioned by sickness, and she has been buried accordingly; but this difficulty of bringing men to justice, holds only among the powerful bashaws, and persons in the highest stations; and these, to avoid a retaliation of similar practices on _their_ children, sometimes prefer giving their daughters in marriage to men of an inferior station in life, who are more amenable to justice." [99]

This writer informs us also, that "in Morocco, slaves are placed in the public market-place, and there turned about and examined, in order to ascertain their value." p. 249. "A young girl of Houssa, of exquisite beauty, was once sold at Morocco, whilst I was there, for four hundred ducats [of 3s. 8d. sterling,] whilst the average price of slaves is about one hundred; so much depends on the fancy or the imagination of the purchaser." p. 247.

DARFOR. "Slaves indeed, both male and female, rarely draw near their master, if he be seated, except creeping on their knees. A man, who is possessed of several women, rarely enters the apartments of any of them, hut sends for one or more of them at a time to his own. Whether free or slaves, they enter it on their knees, and with indications of timidity and respect.... The slaves are rarely allowed to wear any covering on their feet. Free women, on the contrary, are ordinarily distinguished by a kind of sandal; which, however, is always taken off when they come into the presence of, or have occasion to pa.s.s, a person of any consideration of the other s.e.x. It is not uncommon to see a man on a journey, mounted idly on an a.s.s; whilst his wife is pacing many a weary step on foot behind him; and moreover, perhaps, carrying a supply of provisions or culinary utensils. Yet it is not to be supposed, that the man is despotic in his house; the voice of the female has its full weight." [100]

MANDINGOES. "About noon," says Mr. Park, "I arrived at Kolor, a considerable town; near the entrance into which I observed, hanging upon a tree, a sort of masquerade habit, made of the bark of trees; which, I was told on inquiry, belonged to MUMBO JUMBO. This is a strange bugbear, common to all the Mandingo towns, and much employed by the Pagan natives in keeping their women in subjection; for as the Kafas are not restricted in the number of their wives, every one marries as many as he can conveniently maintain; and as it frequently happens that the ladies disagree among themselves, family quarrels sometimes rise to such a height, that the authority of the husband can no longer preserve peace in his household. In such cases, the interposition of Mumbo Jumbo is called in and is always decisive.