Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/797

 SEX IN PRIMITIVE MORALITY 777

from the Kukis : "When a young man has fixed his affections upon a young woman, either of his own or of some neighboring Parak, his father visits her father and demands her in marriage for his son : her father, on this, inquires what are the merits of the young man to entitle him to her favor ; and how many can he afford to entertain at the wedding feast ; to which the father of the young man replies that his son is a brave warrior, a good hunter, and an expert thief ; for that he can produce so many heads of the enemies he has slain and of the game he has killed ; that in his house are such and such stolen goods ; and that he can feast so many (mentioning the number) at his marriage."' Occasionally the ability to take punishment is even made a part of the marriage ceremony. At Arab marriages "there is much feasting, and the unfortunate bridegroom undergoes the ordeal of whipping by the relations of his bride, in order to test his courage. Sometimes this punishment is exceedingly severe, being inflicted with the coorbatch, or whip of hippopotamus hide, which is cracked vigorously about his ribs and back. If the happy husband wishes to be considered a man worth having, he must receive the chastisement with an expression of enjoy- ment ; in which case the crowds of women in admiration again raise their thrilling cry."'

A very simple record of successful activity is the bones of animals. McCosh says of the Mishmis of India: "Nor are these hospitable rites allowed to be forgotten ; the skull of every animal that has graced the board is hung up as a record in the hall of the entertainer; he who has the best-stocked Golgotha is looked upon as the man of the greatest wealth and liberality, and when he dies the whole smoke-dried collection of many years is piled upon his grave as a monument of his riches and a memorial of his worth." ^ And Grange of the Nagas: "In front of the houses of the greater folks are strung up the bones of the animals with which they have feasted the villagers, whether

' Macrae, " Account of the Kookies or Lunctas," Asiatic Researches, Vol. VII, P- 193-

'S. W. Baker, The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, p. 125. ^Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, p. 195.