Yet the Mpongwe do not, like other tribes on the west
coast, practise that separation of the sexes during gestation and
lactation, which is enjoined to the Hebrews, recommended by
Catholicism, and commanded by Mormonism--a system which partly
justifies polygamy. In Portuguese Guinea the enceinte is claimed
by her relatives, especially by the women, for three years, that
she may give undivided attention to her offspring, who is rightly
believed to be benefited by the separation, and that she may
return to her husband with renewed vigour. Meanwhile custom
allows the man to co-habit with a slave girl.
Polygamy, also, in Africa is rather a political than a domestic
or social institution. A "judicious culture of the marriage tie"
is necessary amongst savages and barbarians whose only friends
and supporters are blood relations and nuptial connections;
besides which, a multitude of wives ministers to the great man's
pride and influence, as well as to his pleasures and to his
efficiency. When the head wife ages, she takes charge of the
girlish brides committed to her guardianship by the husband.
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