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 CHAPTER XV.

WIDOWHOOD AND THE LEVIRATE.

I. Widowhood in Savage Countries.—Societies without widowhood—The widow considered as property by the Hottentots and at the Gaboon, etc.—Widowhood in Kouranko, at Kaarta, and in Madagascar—The wives of Queen Ranavalo—Widowhood among the Redskins—Sacrifices and mutilations of widows. II. Widowhood in Barbarous Countries.—Widowhood in Bhootan—Polyandric widowhood—Widowhood in China—Traffic in the widow—Glorification of widowhood—Suicides of widows—Widowhood in India—Duties of widows—Suttees—Widowhood in Islamite countries—Position given to the widow in the Koran—Position given to the widow in the Bible—Widowhood in Kabylia—The sleeping fœtus—Widowhood in ancient Rome—Opinion of the Christian Church on second marriages—Widowhood in barbarous Europe and in the Middle Ages. III. The Levirate.—The levirate in Melanesia, among the Redskins, the Ostiaks, the Kirghis, the Afghans, in the Code of Manu, among the Hebrews. IV. Summary.

I. Widowhood in Savage Countries.

We have very little knowledge as to the condition of widows in the lowest human societies. It is one of those questions of social organisation hardly noticed by the travellers to whom we look especially for information.

To begin with, we may affirm that widowhood, regarded as a special condition recognised by customs and laws, does not exist in very anarchic societies. Voltaire has somewhere said that the origin of divorce was doubtless posterior by some days to that of marriage. With much stronger