My Friends the Savages Part 16

Amongst these uncivilized people there are no chivalrous traditions, it is true, but neither have their women been driven to seek emanc.i.p.ation, because, sharing with perfect equality the rights of the men, none remain for them to claim, and they have no wrongs to revenge!

[Ill.u.s.tration: Boys practising shooting.

_p._ 127.]

The men, for their part, never dream of what Demosthenes said of the corrupt Athenians of his time, words which are repeated and acted upon by some of our leading men in this the twentieth century: "We marry a woman to have legitimate children and to possess a faithful housekeeper; we keep concubines and pay harlots for our convenience and for the enjoyments of love".

As I say, among the Sakais the one s.e.x is not the slave of the other.

They live in perfect harmony. The male is considered the head of the family, although there is nothing to be administered or directed and the female shows herself sufficiently deferential towards him, but the custom does not exist among them that one should pa.s.sively submit to a will with which his, or her own does not agree.

The man provides food by hunting in the forest, fis.h.i.+ng, gathering fruit and cultivating a little land around; the woman helps him in the work of agriculture, sometimes follows him into the jungle, prepares his meals and attends to other domestic duties. She looks well after her children and is very jealous of them. When they are too little to walk she straps them to her back with long strips of bark, resting their legs upon her hips.

This burden does not prevent her from moving about and working. If they go for a long march the parents take turns in carrying the child.

As soon as a boy reaches the age of six seasons (6 years) he pa.s.ses from his mother's to his father's guardians.h.i.+p and under the latter's guidance begins to make trips into the forest where he catches insects, picks up fruit and bulbs, learns, little by little, to handle the blow-pipe and to take part in the hunting and fis.h.i.+ng as well as to distinguish poisons and a.s.sist in their extraction.

This is the educational period of the little Sakai.

The girl, on the contrary, remains with her mother and is taught to help in household (?) work, doing her part with a good will and cheerful temper.

She goes with her mother to plant and pull up potatoes and yams, to gather fire-wood, and fill the bamboo buckets with water; she learns to cook and take care of the little ones.

Quite early she begins a life of great activity. Her arms are still weak and she can scarcely lift some of the weights allotted her, but they gradually become nerved for heavier ones.

Her fatiguing duties always increase, and yet as a little girl, a maiden, and also a woman she accepts it all with a light heart and is so contented with her hard life that I have often heard one of these good, laborious creatures declare that she was completely happy. How many ladies in civilized Europe and America would be prepared to make a similar avowal?

At about 15 years of age, when our girls are still in short dresses and are not always dignified by the term "young lady", the female Sakai is generally a wife.

From her infancy a baby-girl may be betrothed by her parents to some boy of another tribe. But if when the time comes to unite in matrimony the two young people engaged from babyhood, one no longer likes the other in the quality of a life-partner, they exchange a quiet _gne_ (no) and the engagement is at a complete end.[10]

Neither one nor the other is offended at this refusal for they are of full accord that it is better not to be bound together unless the desire is mutual, as heartache and suffering would be the sure result.

Wonderful philosophy, in all its simplicity, that liberates the little Sakai world from an enormous number of martyrs, and sensational crimes.

The girl is left free in the choice of a husband. Of course advice is readily given her, favourable or otherwise to the suitor, but n.o.body can compel her to wed a man she is not inclined to.

This total absence of coercion is no marvel, however, for in the forest there are no fortune-hunters, dowries being unknown, and there are no Dianas to join in the chase after a rent-roll. There is no ambition with regard to t.i.tle, position or lineage because all are equal. They are human creatures, made in the same form and invested with the same right of living. There is no difference of blood amongst them for it is always red.

The young Sakai that wishes to form a family, accompanied by some near relations (grandfather, father or brothers) leaves his own village and goes to a more distant encampment.

It often happens that hunger, dusk, or some other circ.u.mstance determines this Pilgrim of Love and his companions, to stop at one hut rather than another.

They enter, as is their custom, without saying a word; they sit down on their heels and eat what is offered them.

In the meantime the young man looks about him and carefully eyes the girls, should there be any and if there is one that pleases him he points her out to one of his companions who immediately rises and tells the fortunate damsel what his relative desires.

The young woman, when she does not utter a curt _gne_, murmurs, "_Eh!

eh! ngot_" (Yes, I am willing), a phrase which seems a hiccough but is not.

Then the gallant youth draws near the girl and offers her a necklace of gla.s.s beads, and, if he has any, some bra.s.s wire to make bracelets, receiving in exchange from his future bride a quid or two of betel.

Without any delay the father of the girl and that of the young man, or some one who represents them, commence the more prosaic part of the business, that is: they decide upon the sort of presents that the bridegroom must give the parents and sisters of his spouse on the wedding-day, to compensate them for the girl he is taking away.

They discuss if the gifts must consist of only one earthen-ware cooking-pot (an article of luxury in the jungle where bamboo utensils are in common use) instead of two, and if a pair of _parangs_ (woodcutter's knives) should be added; then there must be some coloured beads, bra.s.s wire and perhaps even a piece of bright coloured calico.

These very important matters being settled, the wedding-day is fixed, after which the affianced couple part without either tears or sighs, the young man returning with his relations to their own habitation.

The great day comes.

The bridegroom accompanied by all the men of his family and by some of the women, betakes himself to the far-off hut of the bride, carrying with him the promised gifts.

There is a large gathering of Sakais from every part, because joys and pains, plenty and famine are equally and fraternally shared by them.

The Elder gets up and says in a loud voice:

"Hearken! hearken, all you who are here a.s.sembled: they who were at a distance are now together; they who were separate are now united".

The bridal couple then take each other tenderly by the hand, and some rice is presented to them upon a leaf. The woman takes up a few grains and puts them into the mouth of her husband and then they both partake of that light, symbolical repast from the same leaf. The nuptial ceremony finishes here, without the intervention of _Ala_ or any sort of ecclesiastical or civil authority. How they are to be envied!

A banquet immediately follows and the company cram down everything that they find eatable. The _menu_ consists of every sort of edible article known in the Sakai cuisine, and when they have stuffed themselves to their utmost, they dance, sing and draw from their instruments the sharpest notes that ever rent the human ear whilst the furious beating of bamboos give out the sound of wooden bells. Terminated in this way the wedding festival, the newly-made husband and wife return, with the relations of the former, to their own group of huts, where a new one, a nest of love, has been prepared for them.

Love among the Sakais never becomes a pa.s.sion or a delirium. It is a quiet calm sentiment, a physiological necessity such as the good soul of Schopenhauer interpreted it, to the great scandal of a certain cla.s.s of lovers.

Men and women are united from a feeling of cordial sympathy, by a spontaneous act of their own wills which would never suffer the least restraint.

No personal or family interest suggests or determines the important step. The only thing that may be said to inspire love (and bring about a marriage) in the jungle is that supreme and inviolable law of nature for the conservation of the species.

But what is to be admired in the unions of these good, simple people is the fidelity which follows them throughout life.

The Sakais are not, I repeat, very ardent spirits, nor are they excessive in sacrificing to Venus perhaps because sensual satisfaction arrives when physiological development imposes it, instead--as too often happens in civilized society, with great damage to morality and race--of after a long and wearisome vigil, always waiting for financial conditions to permit the formation of a family.

It is a fact to be noted that neither the men nor the women feel drawn toward other than their rightful partner, which naturally contributes a great deal in maintaining faithfulness between the two.

Sometimes, but very rarely, one may find a couple whose difference of character renders cohabitation impossible.

There are no scenes of fury, no violent quarrels and, still less, no reciprocal blows.

The two interested parties merely declare that his or her heart suffers too much from a life of such perpetual misunderstandings and they decide to part good friends, hoping to find better luck next time.

They will then separate with the best and most sincere wishes for each other's future happiness.