Of Prostitution in Siberia.
From Russia the transition is natural to the contiguous and kindred region of Siberia. Thence we may, without any apology, extend our inquiries to the remotest north—for the Arctic countries do not present themselves with sufficient prominence to occupy a separate account, and to none could they be added as a supplement more fitly than to the snowy wilderness which spreads on one side to the shores of the Frozen Sea, and on the other to the frontiers of the Chinese Empire. It may appear anomalous to include any of these tracts under the head of civilized countries; but we place them as an appendage of Russia, to which, indeed, they form an appropriate companion.
The state of manners at which the population of these snowy tracts have arrived is extremely low. Nature has taught them many rude arts; but their civilization has not advanced far beyond its crudest elements. The severe rigours to which they are exposed have produced pressing wants, which they have ingenuity enough to satisfy, and further than this their education does not appear to go. They are rude, ignorant, and gross. Some remain with none but the faintest idea of a Deity; others preserve the ancient heathen belief of the Shamans; others have accepted a form of Christianity; but in few of them has a variation in their religious ideas resulted in a change of manners. In fact, the form, and not the spirit of our creed has been introduced among them.
Throughout the immense tracts of Siberia we find numerous tribes, and even nations, classed under various denominations; but all, in their general manners, very much resembling each other. The condition and character of the female sex among them is low; but it is not treated with that harshness or contumely which it experiences in some savage races. Although the rude Ostyak, for instance, considers his wife as no more than a domestic drudge, seldom thinks of giving her a cordial word, and loads her with tasks, he does not use her with positive severity. Among the Samoyedes, women are much less happy and more harshly treated. In the perpetual migrations of the tribes they are charged with the principal burdens, and drag after the men like a train of slaves. The wife is viewed as a necessary but almost disgusting appendage to a man’s household. She is regarded as unclean under many circumstances—especially childbirth, after which her husband will not approach her for two months. When about to be delivered she experiences, instead of the kind, considerate usage which some, even of the wildest savages pay to their women in such situations, a scorn and indignity to which, by long custom, she has thoroughly learned to bend.
In many parts of Siberia, however, a better prospect is presented, and the sexes appear more on an equality. Towards the centre, away from the sea on one hand, and Russia on the other, the tribes enjoy a very independent existence, being, indeed, the most free among the subjects of the Czar. In the winter time, when the rivers are completely frozen, the young girls assemble on their snowy borders, taking care to deck themselves out with every sort of finery they can procure. Their friends also congregate, forming groups, gossip, and enjoy themselves, while the youths mix with the maidens—each selecting the partner he likes the best. It is at this time of the year that the principal matches are arranged. In all parts it is customary to pay a certain amount to the girl’s parents to buy the privilege of marrying her. Should a man not be rich enough to offer the sum required, he hires himself to her father, who tasks him sometimes very heavily, and continues in servitude for three, five, seven, or ten years, according to the agreement made beforehand. At the end of that period he takes his bride, is redeemed from his servile condition, and enters the family with all the dignities and rights of a son-in-law.
Among the Ostyaks it is regarded as very disgraceful to marry a brother’s widow, a mother-in-law, or, indeed, any person connected in an ascending or descending line with the wife; but it is reckoned honourable to marry several sisters. The sister of a deceased wife is considered a particular acquisition, and, indeed, is attended with a solid advantage, for a man taking the second daughter of a house pays to her father a sum only equal to half of that which he paid for the first. No one can marry a person of the same family name; but this seems to apply to men alone, for a woman under this description who enters another household, and bears a daughter, may bestow her upon her brother. In a word, every union is lawful provided the father of the bridegroom and the father of the bride are of different families—though custom makes other distinctions, which are generally observed with as much strictness as those marked by the traditionary law.
When an Ostyak desires to marry he selects from among his companions or relatives a mediator. He then goes with a train of friends, as numerous as his influence enables him to collect, and stands before the door of the house in which the girl whom he has fixed upon resides. Her father easily guesses, on the arrival of such a cavalcade, what the object of it is, and consequently asks no questions, but invites the company in and welcomes them with a feast. Then, retiring with the mediator into another hut, he enters into a negotiation about the amount which he is to receive for his daughter. These things are quietly arranged, though the spirit of bargaining is generally active on both sides. It is not necessary to pay down the whole amount at once, but this must be done before the nuptials can take place. Sometimes, however, a man snatches away his bride before he has fully discharged his debt. In that case her father waits for an opportunity to seize her, carries her home, and keeps her in pledge until the amount be faithfully paid.
Similar customs prevail among the Samoyedes, who are polygamists, though they prefer the changing one wife for another, according to the changes in their inclination, to having two or three at once. The Tungueses, however, often keep as many as five, but even among them the majority of men marry no more than one at a time. They enter into matrimony at a very early age. It is common to see a husband fifteen years old, and a wife, or even a widow, of twelve. There is with them no feast or ceremony of any kind. The bargain is made and ratified, and the young couple proceed forthwith to their nuptial couch.
The Bulwattes, who are also polygamists, treat their women well. Among them one curious observance is,—that the consummation of every marriage must take place in a newly-built hut, where, as they say, no impure things can have been. This is, at any rate, a poetical and a somewhat refined idea. Certain feasts are essential before the union is contracted.
The Tchoutkas, beyond Nigri Kolinsk, have been baptized in large numbers. Their Christianity, however, does not incline them to remove polygamy, for they have in most cases a plurality of wives, whom they marry for a certain period—long or short, as circumstances may determine. It sometimes happens in one of these households that the wife obtains sufficient ascendancy over her husband to bind him to her, and a convention, intended from the first to be only temporary, becomes permanent. The woman who accomplishes this achievement is honoured by the rest of her sex, and is thenceforward supreme in the family. Generally speaking the women of this tribe are more happy and free than in any other part of Siberia.
Among the Tschuwasses it is customary on the occasion of a betrothal to offer a sacrifice of bread and honey to the sun, that he may look down with favour on the union. On the appointed day, while the guests are assembling, the bride hides herself behind a screen. Then she walks round the room three times, followed by a train of virgins bearing honey and bread. The bridegroom entering, snatches over her veil, kisses her, and exchanges rings. She then distributes refreshments to her friends, who salute her as “the betrothed girl,” after which she is led behind the screen to put on a matron’s cap. One of the concluding rites performed is that of the bride pulling off her new husband’s boots—a ceremony to symbolise her promise of obedience to him. When, however, he on his part takes the cap from her head, she is divorced, and goes home to her parents.
Still more degrading is the custom of the Tchemerisses. A man, representing the girl’s father, presents to her husband a whip, which he is allowed freely to use. There is only one occasion during the year when men permit their wives to eat with them. The Morduans betroth their children while very young; but the youth does not know his bride until he marries her. She is then brought to him, placed on a mat, and consigned to his charge with these words, “Here, wolf, take thy lamb.” Still more singular is the custom of the Wotyahe tribes. With them it is usual for the young wife, a few days after the wedding, to go back to her father’s house, resume her virgin costume, and remain sometimes during a whole year. At the end of that period the husband goes to fetch her, when she feigns reluctance, and exhibits every sign of bashfulness and modesty. The women of this community are habitually chaste and decorous in their behaviour.
The usual occupations of the men in Siberia are hunting, fishing, smoking, drinking, and bartering with the Russian traders. Those of the women are far more numerous and wearisome. They build the huts, they tend the cattle, they prepare the sledges, they harness the reindeer when their husbands are away, and drive them also occasionally; they weave mats, baskets, and cloth; they dye worsted for embroidery; they tan hides, make garments, cook the food, and, in some tribes, assist in catching fish. While they perform these varied and harassing offices without a murmur, as they usually do, their life is one of peace; but if they repine they are sure to be harshly reproved, if not severely punished. In some communities the husband is permitted the free use of his whip; but in others, as that of the Ostyaks, a husband dare not flog his wife without the consent of her father, and on account of some grievous fault. If he does she has the privilege of flying home, when her dowry must be restored, and she has her liberty complete.
Jealousy is a sentiment little known among the Ostyaks, or, indeed, any of the Siberian races. Sometimes the women wear veils, but not with that strictness observable with some nations, and more to save their eyes from the effect of the snow glare than from any other motive. Modesty, indeed, is by no means one of their characteristics. Nor is chastity very highly prized. When a Samoyede woman is about to be delivered, she is obliged to confess, in presence of her husband and a midwife, whether she has engaged in any criminal intrigue. If she tell an untruth, the national superstition is that death will assail her amid the pangs of childbirth. Should she declare herself guilty, the husband contents himself with going to the person whom her confession has accused, and exacting from him a small fine by way of compensation—for having, “without permission,” carried on intercourse with a stranger’s wife.
The barbarous manners of Siberia do not allow us, indeed, to expect any refined modesty among its women. Wrangell was introduced into the family of a rich and influential man—the head of a tribe. Within a low-roofed but spacious habitation he found five or six women—wives and daughters, of various ages, all completely naked. They roared with laughter when their visitor entered, and appeared excessively amused at being discovered in that condition. The dancing women of these tribes wear clothing while they display their skill, but otherwise they are as indecent as possible. Obscene and degrading postures, indeed, make up the chief merit of their performances. A late traveller, hearing of these dancers, desired some women to perform, but they appeared so modest, bashful, and diffident, that he feared to urge them. However, after considerable solicitation they consented, when he was disgusted at seeing them fling themselves with marvellous rapidity into a hundred disgraceful attitudes.
Infanticide is not practised in Siberia, except on those children who are born with deformities. These are, it is said, invariably destroyed. There is, in fact, little inducement to the crime, for the whole region is but scantily peopled, and marriages are not at all prolific.
The morals of the Siberian races are universally low. A licentious intercourse is carried on between the sexes long before marriage, early as this takes place. In the great city of Yehaterinbourgh, where religious dissensions are extremely bitter, profligacy is still more powerful; and women, from sheer lust, prostitute themselves to men of all sects, with whom, however, they would rigidly refuse to eat or drink. In all the towns numbers of prostitutes reside. They are scarcely, if at all, reprobated by the other classes of the population, and the young men who do not wish to marry, or cannot afford to procure a wife, as well as widowers, resort to them continually. The process, in fact, which educates a Siberian prostitute to her calling, appears to be this. A young girl, in a community where general licentiousness of manners prevails, is brought up from her mother’s breast with the most loose ideas. She is not taught to prize her chastity, though told that marriage is the destiny to which she must look, and warned that her husband will require her to be faithful to him. Meanwhile, however, there is little in her own mind, or in the care of her friends, to protect her virtue. She forms acquaintances, and is seduced, first by one, and then by another, until her profligacy becomes so flagrant and so public that no one will purchase her as a wife. Accordingly she follows as a means of livelihood that which she has hitherto resorted to only as a means of indulging her vicious appetite. Thousands of prostitutes are thus made, especially amid the crowded communities. In some of the small wandering tribes, the women are comparatively chaste; but on the whole the refined sentiments of virtue are unknown, and prostitution extremely prevalent. This appears strange to those who are accustomed to believe that a warm climate is essential to form a sensual race. It seems, on the contrary, that one extreme of temperature is accompanied with influences as demoralising as another, for it is certain that nations dwelling in the temperate zone are more moderate in their passions, and more abstemious in the gratification of them.
For the races inhabiting the Arctic regions, the Esquimaux may be taken as a proper type. As a race, they are dirty, poor, and immoral, but not so grovelling as the tribes of Western Africa. Though their ideas of beauty and grace are totally at variance with ours, it is wrong to suppose that they have none, for the Esquimaux woman, who tattooes her skin to charm a lover, exhibits undeniably one of those characteristics in human nature which allow opportunities to civilize individuals and nations. They are an ingenious industrious people, understanding well how to make use of those conveniences and appliances of life which have been placed by nature at their disposal; and they who make themselves comfortable and happy in the coldest and most desolate parts of the earth, must possess a certain amount of that genius which, properly developed, flourishes in civilization.
The estimation in which women are held among the Esquimaux is somewhat greater than is usual among savages. They are by no means abject drudges, those cares only being assigned to them which are purely domestic, and which are apportioned to the females among the humbler classes in all European countries. The wife makes and tends the fire, cooks the food, watches the children, is sempstress to the whole family, and orders all the household arrangements, while her husband is labouring abroad for her subsistence. When a journey is to be performed, they, it is true, bear a considerable share of the burdens, but not more than among many of the poor fishing populations of civilized countries in Europe, in some of which the man’s occupation ceases when his boat touches the shore. It is a division of labour, not so much imposed as shared, and the toil is not by any means hateful to them. During the stationary residence in the winter, the life led by the women is in fact one of ease, indolence, and pleasure, for they sit at home, cross-legged on their couches, almost all the day, enjoying themselves as they please, with a fire to warm the habitation, which it is a pleasant task to attend.
The Esquimaux women are not very prolific, few bearing more than three or four children. They generally suckle them themselves, but it is not uncommon for one woman to nurse at her breast the infant of another who may be closely occupied at the time. They are more desirous of bearing male than female offspring, for parents look to their sons in old age as a means of support.
The Esquimaux are permitted by their social and hereditary law to have two wives, but the custom is by no means general. Parry describes a tribe of 219—69 being men, 77 women, and the rest children—among whom there were only twelve men who had two wives, while a few were doubly betrothed. Two instances occurred of a father and son being married to sisters. Children are usually plighted during infancy—that is, from three to seven years of age, and the boy sometimes plays with his future bride, calling her wife. When a man has two wives, there is usually a difference of six or seven years between their ages, and the senior being mistress, takes her station by the principal fire, which she entirely superintends. Her position is in every respect one of superiority; but this is seldom asserted, as the two generally live in the most perfect harmony. The marriage contract has nothing of a sacred character about it, being merely a social arrangement which may be with great facility dissolved. A man can without any ceremony repudiate his wife, to punish her for a real or supposed offence, but this is rarely done. The husband, who is usually older by many years than his partner, chastises her himself when she irritates him, though caring comparatively little for her fidelity. Absolute in his authority, according to the laws of the Esquimaux, he is sometimes, nevertheless, ruled by the women. Usually, however, he upholds his prerogative, and punishes any infringement of it in a very summary manner; but the utmost harshness commonly employed is to make the delinquent lead her master’s reindeer while he rides comfortably in his sledge. Women are very careful of their husbands, partly no doubt from natural sentiments of affection, but partly also, we may believe, from knowledge of the fact that widows are not half so happy as wives, being dirty and ragged, unless they have friends willing to support them, or sufficient attractions to enable them to gain a livelihood by regular prostitution.
Respecting the virtue of the Esquimaux women and the morality of the men, little of a favourable nature is to be said. Husbands have continually offered their wives to strangers for a knife or a jacket. Some of the young men told Parry, that when two of them were about to be absent for any length of time on whaling expeditions, they often exchanged wives as a matter of temporary convenience; instances of which have been noticed by the voyager—in some cases merely because one woman was pregnant and unable to bear the hardship of a journey. The same writer affirms that in no country is prostitution carried to a greater length. The behaviour of most of the women while the men are absent, causes a total disregard of connubial fidelity. Their departure, in fact, is usually a signal to cast aside all restraint, and, as the last excess of profligacy, children are sent out by their mothers to keep watch lest the husband should return while his habitation is occupied by a stranger[85].