The Legal Position of Women in China. thus acquired marital rights over all her younger sisters, if another man married her eldest sister, the second man has to be satis fied with the one wife. If, however, the sec ond sister becomes a widow and her hus band had no brothers, then she becomes the property of her eldest sister's husband, and with her go all the younger sisters. When a wife's husband has several brothers, she generally manages to keep all but one away from home on one errand or another, the one at home being the actual husband pro tern. When an absent one returns the other goes off and becomes for a time a bachelor and so on by turns until all the brothers have, during the year, enjoyed for an equal period the sweets of married life with the single wife. Women in Tibet are in an enor mous minority; they are (so Landor thinks) from fifteen to twenty males for each woman. If a married man has two brothers and several children, the first child belongs to him, the second child to the first brother, the third to the second brother, and the fourth to the original husband; and so on, accord ing to the number of the brothers and the children.
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Divorce is difficult in this land of few wives, and when obtained involves endless complications. Intercourse with girls before marriage is illegal, and in some cases, not only are the parties made to suffer shame, but certain fines are inflicted upon the man, the most severe being that he must present the girl with a dress and certain ornaments. In the case of gentle folks any difficulty of this kind is generally solved by the man marrying the woman and presenting veils to her relations. An illegitimate child is the man's. Sixteen in the case of women and eighteen or nineteen in that of men is regarded as the marriageable age. If the wife of a high official elopes with a man of low rank, she is flogged (when caught), her husband disgraced, her lover, after being subjected to a painful surgical operation, is—if he survives—expelled from the town or encampment. High officials and wealthy men are al lowed to keep as many concubines as they can get and afford. In ("The Forbidden Land," A. H. Savage-Landor. Ch. LXV. See also Letourneau, pp. 78-80, 254.)
