ordinary marriage, although, no disfavour is shown,
such as outcasting from food or drink.
Divorce exists, and the form of divorce is simplicity
itself. A man tells his wife to go, and she leaves him. If
she wishes to live with another man the union is not
known as a true marriage, although the man in question
has to pay for her to her former husband, who on his
part gives a relinquishment. In divorcing a woman the
husband gives her a piece of white cloth. The cloth
is invariably white, the idea being to give her, and her
children by any subsequent marriage, purity and
legitimacy, and until the cloth is given no divorce
has taken place; in fact, should a man elope with
another man’s wife he is shoe-beaten and his goats and
sheep stolen from him with their packs, while the
children are considered illegitimate. The husband,
or any of his close relations, can so treat the erring
man or any of his close relations—a practice which
might, with the greatest advantage, be adopted in
Europe. The children are known as Teliyas until the
second husband has held a formal meeting of village
elders in the presence of the first husband, and an
official accoqnt has been taken of the original husband’s
marriage expenses, and these have to be made good,
and it is only then that the white cloth is given, which
sets the woman free. An accompanying final ceremony
is the waving of a live and screeching fowl round the
heads of the woman, the man, and the village
elders, much to the amusement of the bystanders.
There is no means by which a wife can claim a
divorce, and if a man takes a second wife, and refuses
to release the first, there is no way in which he can be
compelled to release her, however unhappy she may
be, and she cannot marry again unless she has been
properly released. However, in common practice a
second wife is only taken with the concurrence of the
first, generally in cases of sterility, or on the definite
understanding that the first wife will be released.
Human nature is the same all the world over, and
in dealing with the frail sex the lord of creation,’man,
has found it more to his comfort and composure
of mind to consult his better half, or halves, about an
addition to the number of wives before taking the
fatal step than to act regardless of feelings, for the
shrewish tongue of fragile woman is more than a match
for the burly strength of a gay Lothario.