Polygamy

"Happy Comorians, will you think, who can legally vary forever the landscape of their private life. In fact, it seems that polygamy brings them more annoyances than satisfactions. It is tolerated, and not encouraged, hence a certain feeling of bad conscience. The divorce alone can provide variety, so easy it is to. Polygamy is exclusively motivated by social reasons : it is a sign of material wealth, for they must scrupulously support women and children on an equal footing; as the women owns the house and the land, polygamy is a way of existing socially in many villages, even, for the male politicians, in many islands. Religion, which limits the number of wives to four, would allow them to have a home in each island. The secession of Mayotte [in 1975] came to disrupt the harmonious order of things.

Finally the Comorians are no less jealous than anyone else, social structures permitted or not. A Mahoran notable, an experienced polygamist, told to anyone willing to listen to him the discomfort of the situation."

src: Jean FASQUEL, "Mayotte, les Comores et la France".
Translated by @2009