Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/180



nature of matrimonial bonds reveals itself in their breaking in life by divorce, as it does also in their dissolution by death. In the first instance we can observe the strain to which they are submitted; we can see where they are strong enough to resist and where they most easily yield. In the second we can estimate the strength of the social ties and the depth of personal sorrow by their expression in the ceremonial of mourning and burial.

Divorce, called by the natives vaypaka (vay = marriage; paya from payki, to refuse), is not infrequent. Whenever husband and wife disagree too acutely, or whenever bitter quarrels or fierce jealousy makes them chafe too violently at the bond between them, this can be dissolved — provided the emotional situation does not lead instead to a more tragic issue (see sec. 2 of the previous chapter). We have seen why this solution, or rather dissolution, of the difiiculty is a weapon used by the woman rather than the man. A husband very seldom repudiates his wife, though in principle he is entitled to Rh