2io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



party was anxious to avoid bloodshed, both being " Tribes of 

 the River." The uproar was therefore greater than had they been 

 engaged in actual warfare, it being more difficult to master a 

 man by strength of muscle than to knock a hole through him. 

 At length superior numbers prevailed. Those who fought around 

 the lady were dragged away ; she was roughly seized, and such a 

 tugging and hauling ensued that, had she not been to the man- 

 ner born, she must have been rent in pieces. At last but one 

 young man, a secret admirer of the lady, retained his hold. An 

 active young fellow, he had so twisted his hands and arms into 

 the girl's hair, and fought so vigorously with his legs, that he 

 could not be removed until he was knocked down senseless. The 

 contest ended, and the bride being borne in triumph to the canoes, 

 both parties proceeded to pick up their weapons and smooth their 

 feathers. Everything had been conducted in the most honorable 

 and satisfactory manner. The Ngatiroa had duly declared their 

 intention, and, if they had surprised the Mania, the latter had 

 learned a lesson, and had only succumbed to superior numbers. 

 No lives had been lost ; only a few bones broken, which would 

 soon mend, and it would be their turn next time. In the mean 

 time their own characters required them to fulfill the duties of 

 hospitality, and the tawa was requested to remain until food was 

 cooked and placed before it, 



The Wa Kamba (Africa) observe a form of capture very simi- 

 lar to the foregoing. Among them the bridegroom is required to 

 carry off his bride by force after the preliminaries are completed. 

 This is attempted by the help of all the friends and relatives that 

 the man can muster, and resisted by the friends and relatives of 

 the woman, and the conflict now and then terminates in the dis- 

 comfiture of the unlucky husband, who is reduced to the neces- 

 sity of waylaying his wife when she may be alone in the fields or 

 fetching water from the well. 



In these examples resistance is offered by both the men and 

 women of the bride's party, even to the extent of causing a fail- 

 ure of the marriage, at all events for a time. The first disinte- 

 gration, therefore, appears to be when such resistance is still 

 offered, but where, if it be successful, the bride is finally produced 

 and given up to the party of the bridegroom. 



This form is observed by the Kookies of the northeastern 

 frontier of India, of whom Colonel McCulloch says : " When they 

 go to bring away the bride, after having paid for her, they usu- 

 ally receive more kicks than halfpence from the village that is, 

 they usually get well beaten. But, after the fight is over, the 

 woman is quietly brought from her home and given to the party 

 that came for her, outside the village gate." The custom of the 

 Karens (Burmah), mentioned by Sir John Bowring, is a survival, 



