CURIOUS CUSTOMS. $67 



than it does to us, and a temporary marriage as natural and 

 honourable as one that is permanent. Hospitality, again, is 

 frequently carried so far that it is thought wrong to withhold 

 from a guest anything that might contribute to his comfort, 

 and unless therefore he was provided with a temporary wife, 

 hospitality would be regarded as incomplete. This custom is 

 found throughout North America and the South Sea Islands, 

 among the Abyssinians, Bedouins, Kaffirs, Patagonians, and 

 other races. Among the Esquimaux it is considered a great 

 mark of friendship for two men to exchange wives for a day 

 or two. It has been already mentioned that a Kandyan chief, 

 described by Mr. Bayley, was quite scandalized at the idea of 

 having on]y one wife. It was, he said, "just like monkeys." 

 When Captain Cook was in New Zealand, his companions 

 contracted many temporary marriages with the Maori women ; 

 these were arranged in a formal and decent manner, and were 

 regarded, by the New Zealanders at any rate, as perfectly 

 regular and innocent.* Begnard-j- assures us that the Lapps 

 preferred to marry a girl that had had a child by a white 

 man, thinking " that because a man whom they believe to be 

 possessed of a better taste than themselves has been anxious 

 to give marks of his love for a girl of their country, she must 

 therefore be possessed of some secret merit/' Even at the 

 present day, Lady Duff Gordon tells us, in her paper on the 

 Cape,t that "there are no so-called 'morals' among the 

 coloured people, and how or why should there ? It is an 

 honour to one of these girls to have a child by a white man." 

 Taking all these facts into consideration, the intercourse which 

 has taken place between Europeans and women of lower 

 tribes must not, I think, be too severely condemned, or rather 

 the blame ought to fall on us and not on them. But, even 



* Cook's First Voyage, vol. iii. p. 450. 



f Pinkerton, Journey to Lapland, vol. i. p. 166. 



I Vacation Tourists, 1863, p. 178. 



