In a still larger number of cases primitive woman’s objection to rivals is easily overcome by the desire for the social position, wealth, and comfort which polygamy confers.  I have already cited, in the chapter on Honorable Polygamy, a number of typical incidents showing how vanity, the desire to belong to a man who can afford several wives, or the wish to share the hard domestic or field work with others, often smothers the feeling of jealousy so completely that wives laugh at the idea of having their husbands all to themselves, beg them to choose other companions, or even use their own hard-earned money to buy them for their husbands.  As this point is of exceptional importance, as evidencing radical changes in the ideas relating to sexual relations—­and the resulting feelings themselves—­further evidence is admissible.

Of the Plains Indians in general Colonel Dodge remarks (20): 

“Jealousy would seem to have no place in the composition of an Indian woman, and many prefer to be, even for a time, the favorite of a man who already has a wife or wives, and who is known to be a good husband and provider, rather than tempt the precarious chances of an untried man.”

And again: 

“I have known several Indians of middle age, with already numerous wives and children, who were such favorites with the sex that they might have increased their number of wives to an unlimited extent had they been so disposed, and this, too, from among the very nicest girls of the tribe.”

E.R.  Smith, in his book on the Araucanians (213-14) tells of a Mapuche wife who, when he saw her,

“was frequently accompanied by a younger and handsomer woman than herself, whom she pointed out, with evident satisfaction, as her ’other self’—­that is, her husband’s wife number two, a recent addition to the family.  Far from being dissatisfied, or entertaining any jealousy toward the newcomer, she said that she wished her husband would marry again; for she considered it a great relief to have someone to assist her in her household duties and in the maintenance of her husband.”

McLean, who spent twenty-five years among the Tacullies and other Indians of the Hudson Bay region, says (301) that while polygamy prevails “the most perfect harmony seems to subsist among them.”  Hunter, who knew the Missouri and Arkansas Indians well, says (255) that “jealousy is a passion but little known, and much less indulged, among the Indians.”  In cases of polygamy the wives have their own lodges, separated by a short distance.  They “occasionally visit each other, and generally live on the most friendly terms.”  But even this separation is not necessary, as we see from Catlin, who relates (I., 119) that among the Mandans it is common to see six or eight wives of a chief or medicine man “living under one roof, and all apparently quiet and contented.”

In an article on the Zulus (Humanitarian, March, 1897), Miss Colenso refers to the fact that while polygamy is the custom, each wife has her own hut, wherefore