to dispose of her person without authorisation is often a capital crime; but the husband, on the contrary, has in many countries the undisputed right to lend, let out, or barter his wife or wives: jus utendi et abutendi. I will mention a few of these marital customs.
In America, from the land of the Esquimaux to Patagonia, the loan of the wife is not only lawful, but praiseworthy. Egidius says of the Esquimaux, "that those who lend their wives to their friends without the least hesitation are reputed in the tribe as having the best and noblest character."[1] The English traveller, Captain Ross, relates that one of the Esquimaux prowling around his ship was accompanied by the wives and children of one of his intimate friends, to whom he had, in the preceding autumn, confided, on his side, his own two wives. The exchange was to terminate at a fixed time, and the Esquimaux of whom Captain Ross speaks was very indignant with his friend because the latter, having forgotten himself while chasing the deer in distant regions, was not exact in keeping the engagement.[2]
On this point the Redskins are not more delicate than the Esquimaux. Thus the Natchez make no difficulty of lending their wives to their friends.[3] In New Mexico the Yuma husbands willingly hire out their wives and their slaves, without making any difference. And, besides, with them, as in many other countries, to furnish a guest with a temporary wife is simply one of the duties of hospitality.[4] The chiefs of the Noutka Columbians barter their wives among each other as a sign of friendship.[5] Nothing would be easier than to enumerate a great number of facts of the same kind observed in Australia, Africa, Polynesia, Mongolia, and almost everywhere. But it is more remarkable to meet with the same custom in a Mussulman country. Nevertheless, Burckhardt relates that the Merekedeh, a branch of the great tribe of Asyr, understood hospitality in this primitive manner. To every stranger received under
