Page:The evolution of marriage and of the family ... (IA evolutionofmarri00letorich).pdf/269

 father: it is thus in Yarriba. Sometimes they are sold simply, if they have had no children by the deceased husband. In Kouranko, widows have a milder fate. They are numerous; for, as young girls, they have generally been sold by their parents to old husbands; but according to Laing, the custom of the country renders them free, and makes them their own mistresses as soon as they are widows, and they profit by this immediately to choose themselves a young husband, and lavish cares and attentions on him; it is then their turn. Nevertheless, the custom of classing widows with the heritage seems very general in negro Africa. It exists with the Bambarras of Kaarta, where, at the death of a prince, his successor puts the wives of the deceased monarch up to auction. Even if old and horrible, they sell easily and dear, for men like the honour of succeeding to a king. We shall find the same usage again in Madagascar, at least in the noble families of the Hovas. On ascending the throne, Radama simply kept all his father's wives. So obligatory is this on the reigning sovereign, that at the death of the same Radama, his widow Ranavalo was bound to keep, by the title of wives, all her husband's widows. Then, in a great council held after her elevation to the throne, it was decided that the Queen Ranavalo could not marry again, but would be free to take lovers at her will, and that all the children born of these fugitive unions should be considered as the legitimate posterity of Radama. By this ingenious measure all was conciliated—respect to custom, the liberty of the queen, and the regular succession to the throne.

We shall find again in very different countries this savage custom of considering widows as a simple property, transmissible by inheritance. Sometimes the heir succeeds simply to the deceased husband; sometimes he accepts and exacts an indemnity, in case the widow re-marries. Such was already the custom with the Smoos of Central America. There the widows belonged by right to the