of their beginnings still endures. At the
birth of males, and even the females, the midwives themselves made
easier for them the carnal act, by cutting off I know not what from
their organs. And now that the midwives do not do it, there is no lack
of the introduction of this abuse among the boys; but it is assured
that this is not the circumcision of the Jews. The devil influenced
them in other curious ways for the greater sensuality and duration in
their carnal acts, methods which are now completely extinct. But they
have sufficiently caught the plague of sodomy from the Japanese and
Chinese; and I have already seen some persons burned, in my time. In
short, men and women never think of being chaste, so that among the
most holy all their thought is of their marriages.

496. At the present time we have always tried to see that the brides
and grooms are always of equal rank and condition. It was not usual
for them to have more than one own wife, and one own husband; but
those who were chiefs and wealthy were allowed to have some slaves as
concubines, especially if their own wives did not prove fruitful. Only
among the Visayans did the first religious ministers of the gospel find
established the custom of one man having many legitimate wives, and
that of large dowries, which was no small obstruction to the planting
of the gospel. The general rule was for each man to have one legitimate
wife; and they tried to obtain one who was of their own family, and
even very closely related to them, barring out the first degree,
for that was always a direct impediment to their marriage. Their
marriages were not indissoluble, as are those of Christians. For if
the consorts returned the dowry, one to the other, the one at fault
to the one without blame, that was sufficient for repudiation; and
they could marry others, unless the couple had children, in which
case all the dowry was given to these. If profits had been made with
the lapse of time, while they had lived together, those profits were
divided between them both, if the gains were in common. But if they
were the secret gains of one of them, then that one kept them.

497. The dowry, which is called bigaycaya, was always given by the man
(and it is even yet given), the parents of the girl determining the
sum beforehand, at the time when they discussed the marriage. The
parents of the bride received that dowry, and neither the bride nor
her parents contributed any fund. The dowry