Sexual life of primitive people / by H. Fehlinger ; translated by S. Herbert and Mrs. S. Herbert.

  • Fehlinger, Hans.
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sexual life of primitive people / by H. Fehlinger ; translated by S. Herbert and Mrs. S. Herbert. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    though it takes place at times in spite of this. The Mongolian races generally show indifference in this respect. Thus T. C. Hudson (p. 78) says of the Nagas in Manipur that they are conspicuous for their excep¬ tionally loose pre-marital relationship, although they demand strict fidelity in marriage. Pre-marital inter¬ course between persons to whom marriage is forbidden is not considered improper, which may be due to the fact that the Nagas, like the Australian tribes, are ignorant of the process of generation. Among many native Indian tribes the grown-up children do not sleep in their parents’ huts, but in houses of their own, in which they commonly visit each other by night. Should a girl become pregnant, the probable father is expected to marry her. If he refuses, he has to pay damages, and the girl is at liberty to marry some one else, which she can do with¬ out any difficulty. Sometimes abortion is resorted to, especially when both persons belong to the same exogamic group, the members of which are not allowed to intermarry. The tribes of Baroda, the Maduvars of Madras, and the Ghasyas of the United Provinces, permit a probationary period of cohabitation. It is considered no disgrace for a girl if the trial marriage does not result in a permanent marriage. Among the Garos it is an unwritten law that after certain great festivals young men and women may sleep together. Otherwise these Garos, like the tribes and castes previously referred to, are strictly monogamous.
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