Among some of the Eskimos, Aleutians, and Kolushes of the north and north-west coasts of America a married woman is the wife of all the married men of the tribe, and each married man is husband of all the married women ; but this does not prevent the distinctions between the married and unmarried from being rigidly observed.
Polyandry can become the prevailing form of marriage only where there is a great scarcity of women, as it is certainly contrary to the feel ing of proprietorship and the emotion of jealousy seen in all races. Its origin was from the custom of exposing female infants at birth or of sell ing them as slaves. As in all lands and all conditions of society the births of the two sexes are about equal, and as the male child soon becomes able to assist in defending and supporting the family, he was preserved and the female child destroyed. It is also obvious that in the struggle for existence it is easier for three men to support one woman, than for one man to support three women, with the children that result from the union.
monogamous tribes among the ruder races of mankind are rare, but not unknown. The Veddahs of Ceylon are an example. Each male takes but one wife, and is true to her alone until separated by death. The same has been said of some American tribes— the Seminoles and Chetimashas—but the evidence is not conclusive.
Monogamy was the law among the ancient Romans, but its diffusion over the world, and the recognition of its position as the only relation of the sexes consistent with the highest development of the race, are due to Christianity. In the early Church a canonical law dating from 400 A. D. pronounced a marriage indissoluble ; and this is still the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church ; but most other Christian communities under stand that monogamy means merely to live with one wife or husband at one time, and permit divorce and the selection of other mates for reasons sufficient to satisfy the law of the state where one is resident.