Nor did quarrels arise out
of it, at least among the men, who, when their wives deserted them
in favour of a rival, accepted the whole thing much as we accept the
income-tax or our marriage laws, as something not to be disputed, and as
tending to the good of the community, however disagreeable they may in
particular instances prove to the individual.
It is very curious to observe how the customs of mankind on this matter
vary in different countries, making morality an affair of latitude, and
what is right and proper in one place wrong and improper in another. It
must, however, be understood that, since all civilised nations appear to
accept it as an axiom that ceremony is the touchstone of morality, there
is, even according to our canons, nothing immoral about this Amahagger
custom, seeing that the interchange of the embrace answers to our
ceremony of marriage, which, as we know, justifies most things.
VII
USTANE SINGS
When the kissing operation was finished--by the way, none of the young
ladies offered to pet me in this fashion, though I saw one hovering
round Job, to that respectable individual's evident alarm--the old man
Billali advanced, and graciously waved us into the cave, whither we
went, followed by Ustane, who did not seem inclined to take the hints I
gave her that we liked privacy.
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