Widow is only thirty days,
and for a man twenty-five; but that after a father's death the
house in which he has lived is burned down after the thirty days of
seclusion, and the widow and her children go to a friend's house
for three years, after which the house is rebuilt on its former
site.]
If a man does not like his wife, by obtaining the chief's consent
he can divorce her; but he must send her back to her parents with
plenty of good clothes; but divorce is impracticable where there
are children, and is rarely if ever practised. Conjugal fidelity
is a virtue among Aino women; but "custom" provides that, in case
of unfaithfulness, the injured husband may bestow his wife upon her
paramour, if he be an unmarried man; in which case the chief fixes
the amount of damages which the paramour must pay; and these are
usually valuable Japanese curios.
The old and blind people are entirely supported by their children,
and receive until their dying day filial reverence and obedience.
If one man steals from another he must return what he has taken,
and give the injured man a present besides, the value of which is
fixed by the chief.
Their mode of living you already know, as I have shared it, and am
still receiving their hospitality.
