“Favourite slaves and concubines are respected as much as wedded wives. No distinction is made betwixt legitimate and illegitimate children; and, to the extent of his means, every subject follows the example set by the monarch (Sahela Selassie), who, it has been seen, entertains upon his establishment, in addition to his lawful spouse, no fewer than five hundred concubines.
“Few married couples even live long together without violating their vow; and the dereliction being held of small account, a beating is the only punishment inflicted upon the weaker party. The jewel chastity is here in no repute; and the utmost extent of reparation to be recovered in a court of justice for the most aggravated case of seduction is but fivepence sterling.
“Morality is thus at the very lowest ebb; for there is neither custom nor inducement to be chaste, and beads, more precious than fine gold, bear down every barrier of restraint. Honesty and modesty both yield to the force of temptation, and pride is seldom offended at living in a state of indolent dependence upon others. The soft savage requires but little inducement to follow the bent of her passions according to the dictates of unenlightened nature; and neither scruples of conscience nor the rules of the loose society form any obstacle whatever to their entire gratification.”[228]
Plowden confirms the observation that “no distinction is made between legitimate and illegitimate children,” and adds, “all share alike on the decease of their father.”[229]
The reader will have noticed that Rassam’s account of the duration and even tenour of these alliances does not agree with the comments made by Harris. Stern observed that the wedded pair “may, perhaps, become attached to each other and live in peace and conjugal bliss; or, as it frequently happens, they may become disgusted with each other after the lapse of a brief period and separate.”[230]
Parkyns wrote:—“The civil marriage may be dissolved on the shortest notice and for the most trifling reasons. Parties have only to express their wish to separate, and a division of property and children takes place. The boys, if there be any, usually go to the father, and the girls to the mother. This having been done, the parties are at liberty to contract a second marriage as soon as they please. It is not an uncommon thing for a man thus separated from his wife to maintain her in a house near his own, furnish her with the necessary means of subsistence for herself and family, and continue apparently in perfect friendship with her, while at the same time he takes another bride in her place.”[231]
The custom of entering into civil contracts of this kind is of old standing; for Lobo remarked, “A husband that doth not like his wife may easily find means to make the marriage void; and, what is worse, may dismiss the second wife with less difficulty than he took her, and return to the first; so that marriages in this country are only for a term of years, and last no longer than both parties are pleased with each other; which is one instance how far distant these people are from the purity of the primitive believers, which they pretend to have preserved with so great strictness. The marriages are, in short, no more than bargains, made with this proviso that when any discontent shall arise on either side, they may separate, and marry whom they please, each taking back what they brought with them.”[232]
According to Mr. Vivian, provision is sometimes made at the time of the secular marriage for the event of divorce—“a certain sum is agreed upon for payment by the husband. My friend, the coffee-planter at Harrar, had to promise to pay £10 to his little Galla wife if ever he sent her away, but that was considered an exceptionally heavy fee.”[233]
There are, however, nuptials of greater sanctity. Rassam thus described them: “The most binding marriage with the Abyssinians consists of an interchange of vows between the bridegroom and bride, confirmed by their jointly partaking of the holy Eucharist; in fact, the union in this case is solemnized much in the same way as in other Christian Churches. Here, however, as elsewhere, certain breaches of their mutual vows by either party dissolves the tie and renders the transgressor legally obnoxious to punishment; but as Abyssinian law in such matters has been disregarded for centuries, and Might has taken the place of Right, it follows that an offending husband generally escapes with impunity; so also does the guilty wife, if she happens to belong to the family of a powerful chief. Hence, an unprincipled husband, when tired of his wife, finds no difficulty whatever in getting rid of her; and such repudiation is undoubtedly very common. Many cases of the kind fell under my own cognizance, and, in nearly all, the husbands were leading incontinent lives; on the other hand, I never heard of a single instance of a wife who had been sacramentally married proving unfaithful to her husband, even after his repudiation of her. Most women so situated remain single, and many become nuns. In consequence of this deplorable state of things, Abyssinian females generally entertain a great distrust of the opposite sex, and not one in twenty would willingly contract the more binding marriage.”[234]
Mr. Vivian confirmed this observation. “Marriage is not popular with the women,” he wrote, “in either of these countries” (Abyssinia and Somaliland), “and they will only consent to it when physical force is actually used.” He added, with regard to Abyssinia, “The permanent marriage seems to be very rare, only priests and persons of extraordinary piety indulging in it.”[235] It is to be hoped that these worthies do not resort to violence in order to gratify their wish. Plowden said of this form of wedlock, that “it is usual in old age only to take the sacrament together in the church, thereby pledging themselves to fidelity.”[236]