WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
Everyone, including the children, smokes in Burma, and girls may be seen smoking big, strong cheroots, nearly a foot in length.
Regarding the constant use of tobacco, I may note here that some medical writers have asserted that smoking tends to induce sterility in both sexes. As the population of Burma is steadily increasing, in spite of incessant cigar-smoking by both men and women, to say nothing of young children, it seems necessary to examine more closely the evidence that tobacco produces infecundity; Professor Iwan Bloch asserts that it is not unusual in men addicted to smoking. It may be that the people of the Eastern countries resist the poison of nicotine more readily than those of the West. At any rate, the Oriental races that indulge in tobacco, and often immoderately, are by no means distinguished for a lack of virility and fecundity.
Coffee is also alleged to possess the same quality. Yet in Turkey, Egypt and among many Eastern peoples, strong black coffee is habitually consumed in large quantities.
The first sign of the change from childhood to adolescence in girls is made the occasion for a joyous ceremony. A family party is given by the parents, to which relatives and friends are invited. The girl is decked in her finest tamein, or robe, and she receives
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