I asked him if he had considered the Christian Religion. He told me he had studied the Jewish Bible and the Christian Testament. He could not understand how a race so intellectual as the English could accept the—to him—incomprehensible idea of three Gods. I said that Christians believed in one God only, and I endeavoured to illustrate the Trinity in Unity by describing the trinity that exists in every man: of will, intellect, and deed. To do anything one must first have the wish, or will, from that is begotten the thought how to do it, then comes the deed. He did not discuss the point.
He said another thing that puzzled and surprised him considerably was the custom among the English of selling their wives. I said,
“But Englishmen do not sell their wives.”
“Yes,” he said, “and, moreover, it is published in the newspapers when they do so.”
“What on earth do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean this: an English woman becomes wearied of her husband, and prefers another to him. The man who is preferred is called a ‘co-respondent.’ Straightway they go before the Kasi—the Magistrate, and, after much discussion, it is decided at what price the co-respondent shall buy the woman. The money is then paid to the husband.”
This gave me a sort of shock.
“People of my race,” he continued, calmly, “do differently. When a woman prefers another to her husband—they kill her.”
I asked if he were married. He said “No.”
Plurality of Wives.