CHAP. V.: The Reason of a Law of Malabar.

IN the tribe of the Naires See Francis Pirard, c. 27. Edifying Letters, 3d and 10th collection, on the Malleami, on the coast of Malabar. This is considered as an abuse of the military prosession, as a woman, says Pirard, of the tribe of the Bramins, never would marry many husbands. ^†572, on the coast of Malabar, the men can have only one wife, while a woman, on the contrary, may have many husbands. The origin of this custom is not, I believe, difficult to discover. The Naires are the tribe of nobles, who are the soldiers of all those nations. In Europe, soldiers are forbid to marry; in Malabar, where the climate requires greater indulgence, they are satisfied with rendering marriage as little burdensome to them as possible: they give one wife amongst many men; which consequently diminishes the attachment to a family and the cares of house-keeping, and leaves them in the free possession of a military spirit.