Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/68

 10 MARRIAGE. CHAPTER II. SOCIAL CUSTOMS. SECTION I.  MARRIAGE. ACCORDING to many authorities; marriage amongst Australian Aborigines consists in the forcible abduction of a female from her tribe, and has no particular ceremony connected with it. Our scanty knowledge of the whole of the Australian tribes would scarcely warrant us in saying that this was the case with the majority of them. The Narrinyeri are certainly an exception. Although the consent of a female is not considered a matter of the first importance, as, indeed, is the case in many uncivilised nations, yet it is always regarded as desirable. There is also some ceremony in their marriages. To show that this has always been the custom I will quote the Rev. H.E.A. Meyer, who resided with them, before they had much intercourse with Europeans. He says"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