Note 251-1 — Chapter II

Turner, Embassy to Thibet, II, 349, tells of five brothers who lived satisfied thus under one roof. (Jacquemont, Voyage en Inde, 402.) In Ladakh, all the children are ascribed to the eldest brother, to whom also the property belongs; all the younger brothers are his servants and may be expelled the house by him. (Neumann, Ausland, 1866, No. 16 seq.) In Bissahir, on the other hand, the eldest child belongs to the eldest brother, the second to the second, etc. Here the wife is bought by all the brothers together and treated precisely as a slave. (Ritter, Erdkunde, III, 752.) In Bhutan, the men move into the house of the woman, who is frequently old, and who before marriage, and up to her 25th or 30th year, has generally lived very lawlessly. (Ritter, IV, 195.) Among the Garos, the wife may leave the man at pleasure and not lose her property or her children, while her husband by her rejection of him loses both. (Ritter, V, 403.) Even in Mahabarata, polyandry occurs among the Northern Indians. Similarly, among the Indo-Germanic tribes in Middle Asia (Ritter, VII, 608); according to Chinese sources in ancient Tokharestan (Ritter, VII, 699), and among the Sabæans (Strabo, XVI, 768). Even in ancient Sparta. (Polyb., XII, 6.)