thin his gates, and will
consider it an insult if he refuses to enjoy her company. "As with many
savages and half-civilized people, the man who would not offer his guest
the hospitality of the conjugal couch, or the company of his
best-looking daughter, would be considered an ill-bred person."

This laxity in sexual relations was, at first, common to all races of
primitive men, but, after a time, there arose certain influences which
modified, to a certain extent, this free and indiscriminate intercourse.
Frequent wars must have occurred between hostile tribes of primitive
men, during which, some of them (physically or numerically weaker than
their opponents) must have been repeatedly vanquished, and many of their
females captured, for, in those old days (like those of more recent
times, for that matter) the women were the prizes for which the men
fought.

Under circumstances like these, the few remaining women must have served
as wives for all the men of the tribe; and, in this manner polyandry had
its inception. Polyandry gives women certain privileges which monandry
denies, and she is not slow to seize on these prerogatives, and to use
them in the furtherance of her own welfare. Polyandry, originating from
any cause whatever, will always end in the establishment of a
matriarchate, in which the women are either directly or indirectly at
the head of the government.

There are several matriarchates still extant in the world, and one of
the best known, as well as the most advanced, as far as civilization and
culture are concerned, is that of the Nairs, a people of India
inhabiting that portion of the country lying between Cape Comorin and
Mangalore, and the Ghats and the Indian Ocean.

The Nairs are described as being the handsomest people in the world; the
men being tall, sinewy and extraordinarily agile, while the women are
slender and graceful, with perfectly modeled figures. The Nair girl is
carefully chaperoned until she arrives at a marriageable age, say,
fourteen or fifteen years, at which time some complaisant individual is
selected, who goes through the marriage ceremony with her. As soon as
the groom ties the _tali_, or marriage cord, about her neck, he is
feasted and is then dismissed; the wife must never again speak to, or
even look at, her husband. Once safely wedded, the girl becomes
emancipated, and can receive the attentions of as many men as she may
elect, though, I am informed, it is not considered f