Some Are
Very Large, Almost Ten Paces High, Standing Upright, And Having Many
Smaller Idols Placed Around, Which Seem To Give Reverence To The Great One.
The Priests Of These Idols Appear To Live More Regularly, And Are Less
Addicted To Voluptuousness Than Other Idolaters.
Yet wantonness is not
looked upon in this country as any great sin; for they say if a woman
invites a man, there is no harm in compliance, but if the man solicits the
woman, it is quite otherwise.
In this country they divide the year by lunations, and in every moon they
keep certain days as holy, in some five, or four, or three days, in which
they kill no beast or bird, and abstain from animal food. The people of
this country marry twenty or thirty wives, or as many as they are able to
maintain, but the first wife always has the precedence over the others. The
husband receives no portion with his wife, but on the contrary has to
assign her a dower in cattle, servants, and money, according to his
ability. If any of the wives does not live in harmony with the rest, or if
she becomes disliked by her husband, it is lawful for him to put her away.
They marry their own near relations, and even the wives of their deceased
father, excepting always their own mothers. In the manners and customs of
this country, I Marco was sufficiently experienced, having dwelt a whole
year in this place, along with my father and uncle, for the dispatch of
certain affairs of business.
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