'Central Asia. Part V. A contribution towards the better knowledge of the History, Ethnography, Topography, and resources of part of Asiatic Turkey and Caucasia' [‎266] (281/360)

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The children of the second marriage rank as children of the first, and
inherit the name and property in the same manner. r ihis idea is carried
out still further. If the deceased husband has left no brother or father sur
viving^ and the widow is thus obliged to remain unmarried, she is not on
that account prevented from living with other men, and any childien v vhich
may result from such connexions are considered the legitimate onspring ot
the first marriage. ' ,
Great courtesy prevails in social life among the Ossetes. ihe more
suitors a girl has, the more she is respected and the higher her price rises ;
a o-irl who has not at least one, or a widow who has not several, is so despised
as to be publicly spat upon. The wife generally rules paramount in her
own house, and the hushand is in most cases decidedly henpecked. But
it must be mentioned, to the credit of the women, that they are remaikably
industrious: they cut the hay and corn, carry the grain to the mill, bring
wood home on their backs from the forest, and many of them even plough
and manage all the tillage. On the death of the husband his widow has the
entire management of the household, until his son has grown up; she then
resigns it and is honorably supported by him. If the widow has no children
and declines to marry again, the property remains in her possession, and at
her death passes to the male branch of her husband s family.
The eldest son attains his majority and assumes the management as soon
as he can mow grass with a scythe. Brothers generally remain together on
the same estate and share the produce. At the death of the father his
eldest son receives a horse or cow or ten sheep, with the paternal mansion;
and the youngest, if unmarried, receives a present of arms and cattle, to
enable him to purchase a wife : the property is then equally divided among
all the sons.
The daughters receive nothing, but are sold for the benefit or the estate.
The basis of the social and political state of the Ossetes consists, not in a
feeling of nationality, but in their family clanship. This bond exists, how
ever, only among relatives of the male line and bearing the same name.
Relationship on the mothers side is not recognized.
The Ossetes are divided into three classes,—nobles, freeman and slaves.
The nobles enjoy great honorary privileges, but no political superiority or
territorial dominion. The Georgian annals speak of seven noble families
after whom the Ossetes named their rocky valleys. When they were driven
from the plains into the mountains, one of these families, the Sidumom, was
mentioned to me as flourishing at the present day. In northern Ossetia
tiiere is a peculiar class of nobles, consisting of twelve large families, said to
be descended from Tagoar (the crown bearer), an Armenian Prince: they
have the hereditary title and office of village elders, a position similar to that
of the Armenian village elders. The Ossetian nobles attach great import
ance to purity of blood. If a noble marries a girl of the second class, or
freeman, his children are degraded to the third or slave class. The nobles
in the north are Mahamadans and intermarry principally with Circassian
nobles. Among the pagan Ossetians there are a few priestly families who
are said to preserve certain idolatrous relics.
Among the Ossetes the slaves are treated as members of the family.
The nobles have peasants under them, who rent the land and are tieenienj
they also hire farm-laborers and male and female servants, and Ossetian
female servants may be seen at Tiflis. The Georgian girls never enter service,