Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/117

Rh the matrilineal grand-niece of To'uluwa, the present chief and father of Kalogusa, see below, sec. 5). During a particular absence of her betrothed, which lasted for a year, the girl married another man. On his return, Kalogusa consoled himself by upsetting the engagement of his elder brother, Yobukwa'u, and taking the latter's betrothed, Isepuna, for himself. These two, Kalogusa and Isepuna were very fond of each other; they were always together, and the boy was very jealous. The elder brother did not take his loss very seriously; he started a liaison with another girl, rather plain, lazy, trained in a Mission, and altogether unsatisfactory. Both brothers married their fiancees a few months after I became acquainted with them (see pl. 4, where Kalogusa is seen standing near the hut and Yobukwa'u in the centre, each behind his wife).

Another man, Ulo Kadala, one of the less privileged sons of the chief, was deeply enamoured of a girl whose people, however, did not approve of the match. When I returned again after two years, these two were still not married, and I had an opportunity of witnessing the man's culminating failure to bring about the wedding. I often received confidences from boys longing to marry and faced by some obstacle. Some of them hoped to obtain material help from me, others to be backed by the white man's authority. It was clear that, in all such cases, the pair were already living sexually with each other, but that the thing which they specially desired was marriage. A great friend of mine, Monakewo, had a long and lasting intrigue with Dabugera, the niece of Rh