Few Bachelors to be Found Among Savage People.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXV, Issue 1, 8 July 1905, Page 59

Few Bachelors to be Found Among Savage People.

(By

DELIA AUSTRIAN.)

In these days of bachelor men and bachelor girls we often imagine that celibacy is a custom recognised in all countries. This is largely because it is a condition made possible by western civilisation. As regards savage and barbarous races, bachelors and bachelor gills are unknown; nearly every one strives to get married as soon as he or she is able. This is especially true with peoples of small culture. Among Australian natives every man is expected to, and wishes to, marry; every girl must marry, whether she will or not. Parents see that their daughters do not exercise their own judgment in these matters by betrothing them when they are young, often before they are a year old. It would be considered wonderfully strange if a girl reached the age of 12 and was still unmarried. Girls are usually married when 9 or 10; boys when 12 or 14. This is not because romance is well known to the Australians; they are practical. .The parents feel that a girl is only worth the toil she gives, and young men see the wisdom of their philosophy. In wet weather she attends to all the outside work, while her lord and master is snugly seated before the fire. If there is a scarcity of food, she has to endure the pangs of hunger, often perhaps in addition to ill-treatment and abuses. Much as many a girl dreads to be given away she does not refuse. A girl who breaks an engagement may be killed, and she takes it for granted that she will be whipped and speared before she is married long. "The man,” says the Rev. H. C. Meyer, “regarding them more as slaves than in any other light, employs them in every possible way to his own advantage.” They are a necessary commodity, available as long as useful, but to be thrown aside after they serve their purpose. These wonderful masters have no trouble in freeing themselves of their wives; they can murder if they do not prefer to use gentler methods. The Hottentots and Bushmen also believe women are a necessary evil, and the younger they break their wives in the better. They feel that ten years is none too young, for girls of these years are more pliable and more easily moulded. It must be granted that the Hottentots use milder methods than do the Australians. They do not kill the girls who refuse to marry. The Hottentot often goes to the hut of a girl and makes her a cup of coffee, then hands it to her without adding a word. If she drinks half of it he knows her answer is “yes.” If she refuses to touch the coffee he feels his suit is hopeless, but

he is not grieved; he visits a neighbouring nut and tries his luck again. Ihe Kaffirs believe that a woman is a necessary appendage to a household; tile women care for their huts and do all the housework, while the men watch the cattle. They do not always marry as young as they like, and yet the youngest and most attractive girls often go to the ugly, old men with plenty of money . A man is not worried because ne cannot win the favour of the girl he wants. Her likes and dislikes count tor little. The Ashantees, another African tribe, believe tnat men and women must marry, and the earlier the better. The father does not always force his daughter to marry a certain man, but he transacts the business without consulting her. Girls and boys are often married when young, and when no young man is to be found an old man is selected. The fact that he may have other wives will cause the father little concern. INDIAN BACHELORS EXTREMELY RARE. It is not only in countries where the wives are absolute chattels that men generally approve of marriage. Most of Hie Indian tribe® marry, although they treat their women with far more consideration than do the Africans. Among the Blackfeet, Crees, Chippewas, and other original tribes on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains celibacy was unusual. ;The Shawnees and the Dacotahs are no exception. There is nothing a Dacotah despises more than a bachelor or a bachelor girl. They believe it is right to do their courting when young and to be as romantic as they can. Song, usually accompanied by a Hute, is considered of value. In this way they commend their virtues. A favourite song says: "Cling fast to me and you'll ever have plenty;' Cling fast to me and you'll ever have plenty; Cling fast to me.” “The Charuas,” says Azara, “never stay single. They marry as soon as they can.’’ As regards the Yohgans, Mr Bridges writes that none but mutes and imbeciles remain single, except a few men. No woman remains unmarried. Almost immediately on her husband's death the widow finds another husband. Although most all these peoples sell their daughters in marriage, or more truly, into slavery, this is especially true of the Patagonian women, who are bought and sold. Faulkner, who spent much time among these people, says: “As many of these marriages are com-

pulsory on the side of the woman, they are frequently frustrated. The contumacy of the woman sometimes tires out the patience of the man, who then turns her away, or sells her to the person on whom she has fixed her afiections.” If he has not enough sense to see that she hates him she occasionally hints at it, not after the fashion of a scolding wife, but with her teeth. ABYSSINIAN BABIES CHOOSE MATES. The Abyssinians do not chide their children if they find them writing love letters or courting. Brides of eight or nine years old, and boys at a proportionally youthful age are considered marriageable. Still it is deemed wise for a young man to make his intentions known to the girl’s father. It some times happens that a young man courts the girl without her knowing anything about it. He and her father arrange the affair between them. Civil marriages take place first, and if the couple decide they are fond of each other a church marriage follows. According to Westermarck, parents are as careful to see that their sons are provided with wives as their daughters are with husbands. Among the Cingalese, if a man reaches the age of 18 or 20 and is still unmarried the father considers it his duty to provide him with a wife. The father never stops to think whether she will suit his son, and the boy is generally satisfied. If he tires of her or she no longer considers his comforts he simply repudiates her. A Sautal led feels that 16 or 17 is none too young to marry, and hie usually seeks a girl of 15, while a Kandh boy marries several years younger. Mohammedan peoples also consider marriage is a duty for men and women. An unmarried woman is sei-

dem found in the East. She would rather marry a poor man than remain single. Among the Persians girls are expected to marry before they are of age. and old bachelors are not to be found. In Egypt it is considered in poor taste for a man of social position to be without a wife; she is deemed a necessary furnishing to his uome. The Mongols have the same feeling tor bachelors. Their parents will not have it otherwise, for marriage is considered the most important episode of life. It gives a man dignity and a woman social recognition. Parents almost always arrange this affair without consulting their children, and have no more patience with a bachelor son than w it h a bachelor girl. (WEAN BACHELOR IS OSTRACISED. In Corea, according to the Rev. John Ross, a bachelor suffers great humiliation. He says that the male human being who is unmarried is never called “a ‘man,’ whatever his age, but goes by the name of ‘yatow.’ a name given by the Chinese to unmarriageable young girls; and the ‘man’ of 13 or 14 has a perfect right to strike or abuse the ‘yatow’ of 30, w ho does not as much as open his lips to complain. Celibacy is only permitted to the lamas and those who shave their heads and live in seclusion.” With the Mongols marriage for the man is no serious hardship. Some bachelors have a hard time to get their wives, so tin* men in New’ Guinea believe. This is because if a man marries a girl against her will she “gives him a lively time." If she can do nothing worse she destroys his lands and her women friends rally to her aid armed with poles. Then he must pay for protection, and the more the wife dislikes the husband the more he must pay. The same holds good for the Zulus,

mid the iiuiiilmt of wives a man may have is limited by his riches. SINGLE BLESSEDNESS I’ NFA Slll ON ABLE. Many more rases could i»e cited, but t h< *<• show that bachelors and bachelor inai<leiis arc still unknown in many lands. They are equally unfashionable on the Continent of Europe. With f< w exceptions, foreign girls do not remain single from choice. Most of them are unwedded not because they are unworthy of a good man, but they base not a dot sufficient to enable them to be married to men they would

have. The independent girl, outside of England and America, is not approved of by her parents. It is sad enough if a girl is single because her fortune is insutlicient to give her this happiness. but she is to be laughed at if she remains single from choice. Bachelorhood and bachelor clubs have found little favour with European men. They feel that a man is leaving his duty undone unless he has a house and a wife. England and America are unique in advocating, or at least tolerating, celibacy. Whether, as time advances, other peoples accept this fashion, remains to be seen.