Of the conditions existing among the Baganda in East Africa the missionary John Roscoe (p. 10) gives us the following picture: "Neither the men nor the women controlled their sexual cravings unless insurmountable obstacles came in the way. Women, however, could only attain their aims by stratagem. If an unmarried girl became pregnant, the guilty man had to pay a fine, and he was induced to marry the girl. If a husband discovered his wife with another man, he had the right to kill them both. Nevertheless the married women kept in strict seclusion used to receive lovers, which even the most dreadful punishments for adultery could not prevent." It has to be noticed that the social formation of classes was already greatly developed among the Baganda at the time described by Roscoe. The wealthy men were in a position to have as many wives as they could support, so that there was a scarcity of women for the remaining men. It is not remarkable, therefore, that these tried to meet this fact by force and cunning. Although married women were secluded, single girls had a fair amount of liberty.
Among the Bushmen of South Africa, now nearly extinct, husband and wife remained faithful to each other for life. But if they became tired of each other, no hindrance was put in the way of separation and remarriage. A second husband, however, or a second wife was most probably never accepted into the family; their passionate temperament was against it (Theal).
About the Indians of North-west Brazil Koch-Grünberg relates: "Whilst young girls enjoy the greatest liberty, their purity not being necessarily above suspicion, marriage itself is generally on a higher plane; a married couple are rarely unfaithful to each other." Koch-Grünberg has never noticed even the semblance of indecent behaviour between married people, nor under normal circumstances any serious quarrels or ugly scenes. The same or similar conditions prevail nearly all over South America where European influence is not yet predominant. Karl von den Steinen (p. 501) mentions one exception to this rule. The Bororos, who live on the St. Lourenco river, and who were visited by him, have greatly degenerated, thanks to the civilising arts of the Brazilians. A marriage is concluded without any formality and without the consent of the parents. The young wife remains with her children in her parents' house. The young husband only spends the night there; during the day he lives in the men's house when he is not hunting. The young couple have a hearth for themselves, the grandmother with the grandchildren sitting somewhat apart. Thus it remains up to the death of the grandparents. The grandmother suckles the child when the young wife accompanies her husband on the hunt or fetches palm nuts from the woods; she still has milk when her children marry. Young unmarried men live together in special men's houses. They look out betimes for wives. There are two customs which deserve our interest. A girl's ear-lobes are bored by her future husband. If he himself does not marry her, his son does so. Furthermore, the man who puts the penis cuff on a boy becomes related to him and marries his sister or his aunt. Girls were taken to the men's house quite openly by day, or were caught at night. These girls were not married to one man; any children born were fathered on those men with whom the girl had had relations. This state of affairs is the result of the overweening power wielded by the older men. The women are their possession, and a regular income of arrows and trinkets is earned by hiring out the girls to the men's house. Unnatural intercourse is not unknown in the men's house, but it occurs only when there is an exceptionally great scarcity of girls. According to a statement of a native, the same conditions prevail in the remote villages, where some only of the members of a tribe have permanent possession of the women. But such information given by the natives must be accepted with great caution. No similar customs have become known anywhere else in South America.
In North America the young people also had great liberty, but the married women dared not break their faith. Among many tribes, especially the nomadic hunting tribes, there existed patriarchal conditions, with complete subordination of the women. Intercourse with any one but their rightful husbands was taken in bad part. Nowadays the Indians of North America, with the exception of a small remnant living in the Canadian Tundra, have come under the influence of Christianity. The probable existence of an earlier sex communism among the North American Indians has been described in full by L. H. Morgan.
F. Nansen reports that among the Christian Eskimos of the west coast of Greenland the girls do not consider pre-marital motherhood as a disgrace. The green hair-band which the unmarried mothers have to wear is put on by them long before it is necessary. The young Greenland girls do not deem any concealment of their love affairs necessary. In East Greenland, which has not yet been reached by Christianity, it is customary for a man who wants a wife simply to abduct the girl from her house or tent. The abduction is often only a pretence, for the couple have settled it all between themselves. Formerly this form of marriage was in vogue all over Greenland. The relations look on quietly, for it is all a private affair of those immediately concerned. Should the girl really not wish to have the suitor, she will defend herself until she quietens down or the wooer renounces her. Divorce also takes place without any difficulties; but generally the marriage is continued if there is a child, particularly if it should be a boy. If a man covets the wife of another, he will take her without any hesitation, if he is the stronger. Among the non-Christian Eskimos most of the skilful hunters have two wives, but never more. The first wife is generally looked upon as the superior. Temporary exchange of wives occurs up to the present time even among the Christians on the west coast, especially when the people have to spend the summer hunting the reindeer in the interior of the country. As a rule, married people live on exceptionally good terms with each other.
Among the Netchili Eskimos near the Magnetic North Pole, however, conjugal harmony is, according to Roald Amundsen, not of the best. As a rule, the wife only escapes being beaten when she is stronger than the man. Exchange of women is quite common. Most of the girls are destined from birth for certain men, though sometimes things do not turn out as the parents wish it. When the girl is fourteen years old she seeks out her bridegroom, or he comes to her. There is no wedding. Amundsen doubts whether the couple have, as a rule, any tender feelings towards each other. The girl is just given to the man by the parents, the man marrying her in order to have one more domestic drudge, for in reality the wife is nothing more nor less than a domestic animal. Most Eskimos offer their wives to any one.
Among the Kamchadales, Chukchee, Jukagiers and Tunguses of North Asia the girls have pre-marital liberty, and there exists no marital fidelity. W. Bogoras (p. 602) describes "group marriage" among the Chukchee, which seems to be an institution similar to the Australian pirauru. There are groups, consisting of up to ten men or women, that have the right to sexual intercourse with each other; "but this right is comparatively rarely taken advantage of, only when a man has for some reason to visit the camp of one of his group companions. The host then gives up to him his place in the sleeping room, and if possible leaves the house for the night, going, for instance, to his flock. Afterwards the host generally seeks an opportunity of returning the visit, so as to exercise his rights in turn." The sex communities are generally composed of neighbours and friends. The offspring of brothers and sisters in the second and third generations are, as a rule, united in the same sex community, but not brothers. Bogoras thinks that the communities were originally limited to members of a group who were related, and were only later extended to other people; the ceremonies at the formation of a group seem to imply this. The persons concerned bring sacrifices and anoint themselves with blood, first in the one and then in the other camp. The admission into a group of persons who greatly diverge from each other in age is not welcomed, and single men are also not willingly admitted. The inhabitants of one and the same camp are seldom willing to form a sex community, for reciprocal relationship is intended as an exception rather than the rule, though there are deviations from this rule. Every individual family of the Chukchee belongs in practice to some sex community. Should a family keep to themselves, it would indicate that they had no friends and no protectors in time of need. The children of members of a sex community are reckoned as near blood relations, and may not marry one another.