Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo; a ... - Sabrizain.org

L28 MARRIAGE
if a man does take to himself two wives, the other people
of the village compel him to give one up, and sacrifices
are offered to the gods and spirits to avert any evil effects
upon the community for the crime.
The Dyaks are very particular as to their prohibitive
degrees, and are opposed to the marriage of relatives.
The prohibitive degrees are much the same as among
Christians.
The Dyak men view marriage as an arrangement for
the mutual convenience of both parties in order to obtain
children. Though there is often a great
deal of love
between husband and wife, still, when the marriage is
childless, the Dyak idea is that the proper thing to do is
to separate. I have known many childless couples who
have continued to live together, and have perhaps
but they have done so in spite of all that
adopted a child ;
has been said to them and in opposition to the wishes of
their friends. I have often heard Dyaks say :
'
When
you plant a fruit-tree you expect it to bear fruit, and when
you marry you expect your wife to bear children."
The Dyak women generally regard marriage as a means
of obtaining a man to work for them. A woman will often
separate from her husband simply because he is lazy,
and will not do his fair share of the work. There is a
certain division of labour among Dyaks,
and there are
some kinds of work which it is usual for the man to do,
and other work which falls to the share of the woman.
It is no unusual thing to hear a woman who wishes to be
divorced from a lazy husband : say
I wanted a man to work for me ;
" I married because
but if I have to do the
man's work as well as my own, as I have to with a husband
like mine, I might just as well be unmarried."
It must not be supposed from what has been said that