Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/159

Rh friendly feelings towards the bride begin to throw their wonguims (boomerangs). These striking his frail dwelling, rouse the husband, and he rushes forth, fully armed, to do battle with his rivals. A general fight follows, and the old husband often is wounded and so deeply marked as to be able, after the lapse of many years, to number his wives, living and dead, by his blemishes. During the fight, and when her husband is fully occupied, the bride rushes to her mother, and with streaming eyes and heaving breast begs vainly for protection and help, which her mother dare not give her. As soon as the old men have quelled the disturbance, the father again seizes her hair and drags her to the miam of her husband, gives her a few blows with his waddy, and there leaves her. If she is still determined to escape, and makes the attempt, the father will at last spear her iuin [sic] the leg or foot, to prevent her from running. Beaten, frightened, and at last completely conquered, she resigns herself to her hard fate, thinks no more of the young men who have in past times shown her kindness, and becomes a willing and obedient drudge to her new master. They are given in marriage at a very early age (ten or twelve years). The ceremony is very simple, and with great propriety may be considered an exchange; for no man can obtain a wife unless he can promise to give his sister or other relative in exchange. The marriages are always between persons of different tribes, and never in the same tribe. Should the father be living, he may give his daughter away, but generally she is the gift of the brother. The person who wishes to obtain a wife never applies directly, but to some friend of the one who has the disposal of her; and should the latter also wish for a wife, the bargain is soon made. Thus the girls have no choice in the matter, and frequently the parties have never seen each other before. At the time appointed for the marriage the relations on both sides come and encamp about a quarter of a mile from each other. In the night the men of one tribe arise, and each takes a fire-stick in hand. The bride is taken by the hand and conducted in the midst, and appears generally to go very unwillingly; the brother or relation who gives her away walks silently and with downcast looks by himself. As soon as they approach the camp of the other tribe, the women and children of the latter must quit the hut, which upon this occasion is built larger than their huts usually are. When they arrive at the hut, one of the men invites them to take their places; but before they sit down the bride and bridegroom are placed next each other, and also the brother and his intended wife, if it is a double marriage. The friends and relations then take their places on each side of the principal parties. They sit in this manner, silent, for a considerable time, until most of them fall asleep. At daybreak the brides leave the hut and go to their nearest relations, and remain with them until the evening, when they are conducted to their husbands by their female friends, and the tribes then separate and go to their own districts. When married very young, the girl is frequently away from her husband, upon a visit to her relations, for several months at a time; but should she remain, the man is under obligation to provide her with animal food (providing vegetable food is always the duty of the females); and if she pleases him, he shows his affection by frequently rubbing her with grease, to improve her personal appearance, and with the idea that it will make her grow rapidly and become fat."—Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of the Encounter Bay Tribe, South Australia, by H. E. A. Meyer.

"Their laws as affecting matrimony are very strict. The woman has no choice in the matter. Marriages are effected by one man exchanging his sister or near relation for the sister of another. Sometimes a man who has no sister will, in desperation, steal a wife; but this is invariably a cause of bloodshed. Should a woman object to go with her husband, violence would be used. I have seen a man drag away a woman by the hair of her head. Often the club is used until the poor creature is frightened into submission. One would think such marriages would turn out unhappily. Yet they often get much attached to each other. The honeymoon succeeds the quarrelling. The marriage tie is not reckoned sacred for life. Should a man's wife die, he will sometimes take back his sister whom he had exchanged for the deceased wife. Blacks will sometimes, for a limited period, exchange wives. This they call Be-ama. I have known men exchange for a month."—Mr. John Bulmer, Lake Tyers, Gippsland, MS.