416 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
among the majority of them polygamy is an exception. Almost everywhere it is confined to the minority of the people, the vast majority being monogamous. Moreover, where there are many more women than men in a community and this is not infre- quently the case among uncivilized peoples, owing to war and other causes it is questionable whether, under savage conditions of life, polygamy does not become a necessity. It is also worth noticing that among polygamous peoples the women themselves sometimes approve the custom. Livingstone tells us that some Makalolo women, on hearing that a man in England could marry but one wife, exclaimed that " they would not like to live in such a country ; they could not imagine how English ladies could relish our custom, for, in their way of thinking, every man of position should have a number of wives, as a proof of his wealth." In equatorial Africa also, according to Mr. Winwood Reade, the women are the stoutest supporters of polygamy: "If a man marries, and his wife thinks that he can afford another spouse, she pesters him to marry again, and calls him ' a stingy fellow ' if he declines to do so."
Again, it will be objected that most savages purchase their wives, and that this means that the woman is treated as a piece of property. But we must certainly not conclude, as some eminent sociologists have done, that where women are exchangeable for oxen or other beasts, they are "of course" regarded as equally without personal rights. The bride-price is a compensation for the loss sustained in the giving up of the girl, and a remuneration for the expenses incurred in her maintenance till the time of her marriage. It does not eo ipso confer on the husband absolute rights over her. There are peoples among which the husband's authority is almost nil, although he has had to pay for his wife. Moreover, where the bona fide marriage by purchase prevails it is considered disgraceful for a woman to be given away for nothing. In Morocco it would certainly mean that the girl is considered good for nothing. When I told my Moorish friends that in Chris- tian countries a man pays no money at all for his wife, but, on the contrary, often gets money with her, my friends apparently got
