that patriarchal polyandry implies a degree of civilisation superior to that of the countries where matriarchal polyandry prevails. The ancient Arabs, of whom Strabo speaks, practised fraternal polyandry, and yet we know that they were scarcely civilised, they were cannibals, and so ferocious that their wives accompanied them in combats in order to despatch and mutilate the wounded enemies. These furies made themselves necklaces and bracelets for their ankles with the noses and ears of a dead enemy,[1] and sometimes even they ate his liver.
In conclusion, polyandry is an exceptional conjugal form, as rare as polygamy is common. It must be classed with experimental and term marriages. With our European ideas on conjugal fidelity, obligatory by the right of proprietorship, we can scarcely conceive even of the possibility of this perfect absence of jealousy, this placidity of the co-husbands. It is indelicate, doubtless. But how shall we describe our morality and the laws that give to the deceived husband the right of life and death over his faithless companion, and in this respect bring us down to the level of the savage? Do indelicate manners rank lower than ferocious manners? They are both those of the animal.
- ↑ R. Smith, Kinship, etc., p. 284.
