POLYGAMY AND THE BIRTH RATE
It is generally accepted that polygamy is productive of a high birth rate, and Sir William Muir has given this as one reason for the almost miraculous advance of Mohammedanism. It may have been, and may still be true to-day of Mohammedanism that polygamy produces a high birth rate, but that existing polygamists in tropical Africa to-day produce a greater number of births than monogamists is, I am satisfied, open to serious question. At the same time I think it is clear that prior to European occupation, polygamist Africa maintained a higher birth rate than is possible under modern conditions.
The reason for this is not far to seek, for the chiefs, possessing as they did unrestricted power over the community, could terrorize into complete submission every unit of the tribe. Wherever polygamy existed the wife was kept faithful to the one husband by the knowledge that unchastity was forthwith rewarded by instant death. The young men also knew that a liaison meant either that they were sold into slavery, involving in all probability ultimate sacrifice, or they would be hanged on the nearest tree.
This is so even to-day amongst those tribes beyond the reach of white men. One day, when crossing towards the main Congo river, I suddenly heard wild shrieks from a person evidently in great danger. Rushing to the spot, I found a woman bound hand and foot, and standing over her was a burly young chief with an executioner’s knife raised aloft. In a moment more that woman’s head would have been hacked off had I not promptly gripped the man’s arm. With a terrible oath he attempted to spring upon me, but the headmen of the village, who had also hurried to the scene, fell upon him and wrenched the knife from his hand. For a quarter of an hour nothing would stay the man’s fury; it took six of us to hold him. Ultimately, however, he calmed down and explained to me that his wife had been unfaithful and that she merited the death penalty. I gave him some presents to appease him further and he agreed to forgive the woman if I would “reward him.” As the gift he asked was to me a trivial matter, and the only chance of saving the woman’s life, I gave it to him. The woman herself, in gratitude, at once wrenched from off her wrists a bracelet which she presented to me as a keepsake. I fear, however, that after I left the village, she suffered a cruel death for her unfaithfulness. It will be readily seen that these conditions are only possible in regions where there is no restraining hand.
The question of the birth rate under monogamist and polygamist marriages in West Africa has always been of absorbing interest to me and my diaries are full of jottings bearing upon the subject, but very few are worth a permanent record. Amongst the Christians of Accra many monogamists have considerable families and from personal observation twins appeared to be fairly frequent. In the hinterland, we were informed, that the “baku”—or tenth child—is by no means rare amongst the “Twi” people. The largest family we found amongst the monogamists of the Bangalla region of the Congo was five children, the average appearing to be three. But West Africa is very weak in reliable statistics.
In our recent journeys, I selected four areas and obtained with some accuracy the composition of several groups of villages. It was impossible to accept the figures from some districts because the people, fearing there was some subtle move behind our requests, either gave evasive replies or figures which were obviously inaccurate.
The following six groups, however, are reliable. They were gathered from areas hundreds, and in one case over a thousand miles apart:—
| Men. | Women. | Average woman per man. | Offspring. | Average per man. | Average per woman. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys. | Girls. | Total. | ||||||
| Five Hinterland Villages of the Kasai. | ||||||||
| A | 241 | 316 | 1.315 | 70 | 81 | 151 | 0.626 | 0.477 |
| (201 monogamists) | ||||||||
| River-side Villages on the Upper Congo. | ||||||||
| B | 26 | 45 | 1.875 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 1.115 | 0.644 |
| C | 41 | 54 | 1.317 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0.222 | 0.166 |
| D | 16 | 42 | 2.625 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 1 | 0.380 |
| Hinterland Village, Upper Congo. | ||||||||
| E | 31 | 69 | 2.225 | 23 | 20 | 43 | 1.387 | 0.623 |
| Remote Hinterland Village, Upper Congo. | ||||||||
| F | 196 | 319 | 1.627 | 171 | 148 | 319 | 1.627 | 1 |
In group “C,” the principal polygamist possessed fifteen wives, but only two children. Sixteen monogamists had no children.
Group “A” is taken from the Kasai, where monogamy most widely prevails, but of the two hundred and one monogamists, one hundred and three had no children. The principal polygamists possessed six, eight and thirteen wives respectively. The two first had no children at all and the chief with thirteen wives had two boys and three girls.