, than
the she-wolf that falls upon the fold, or than the she-frog that
falls upon the waters with her thousandfold brood" (_Zend-Avesta,
the Vendidad_, translated by James Darmesteter, Farfad XVIII).

In practice, however, prostitution is well established in the
modern East. Thus in the Tartar-Turcoman region houses of
prostitution lying outside the paths frequented by Christians
have been described by a writer who appears to be well informed
("Orientalische Prostitution," _Geschlecht und Gesellschaft_,
1907, Bd. ii, Heft 1). These houses are not regarded as immoral
or forbidden, but as places in which the visitor will find a
woman who gives him for a few hours the illusion of being in his
own home, with the pleasure of enjoying her songs, dances, and
recitations, and finally her body. Payment is made at the door,
and no subsequent question of money arises; the visitor is
henceforth among friends, almost as if in his own family. He
treats the prostitute almost as if she were his wife, and no
indecorum or coarseness of speech occurs. "There is no obscenity
in the Oriental brothel." At the same time there is no artificial
pretence of innocence.

In Eastern Asia, among the peoples of Mongolian stock, especially
in China, we find prostitution firmly established and organized
on a practical business basis. Prostitution is here accepted and
viewed with no serious disfavor, but the prostitute herself is,
nevertheless, treated with contempt. Young children are
frequently sold to be trained to a life of prostitution, educated
accordingly, and kept shut up from the world. Young widows
(remarriage being disapproved) frequently also slide into a life
of prostitution. Chinese prostitutes often end through opium and
the ravages of syphilis (see, e.g., Coltman's _The Chinese_,
1900, Ch. VII). In ancient China, it is said prostitutes were a
superior class and occupied a position somewhat similar to that
of the _hetairae_ in Greece. Even in modern China, however, where
they are very numerous, and the flower boats, in which in towns
by the sea they usually live, very luxurious, it is chiefly for
entertainment, according to some writers, that they are resorted
to. Tschang Ki Tong, military attache in Paris (as quoted by
Ploss and Bartels), describes the flower boat as less analogous
to