42 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



as improper, inadequate, or ridiculous, or statements are made 

 that no such customs exist among such people. These things 

 are wearying beyond measure. 



The Maori marriage system was a very good one for a 

 people hving in the culture stage which obtained in Polynesia. 

 It was considerably in advance of the systems of many peoples 

 who in general culture occupied a higher plane. 



In the arranging of a marriage it is not only the lamiHes 

 of the young couple who take part in such, but also the family 

 group, or the hapu, or perhaps even the whole tribe— i.e., in 

 a marriage of important persons. Indeed, the parents often 

 have little to say in regard to the marriages of their children, 

 the leading part in the arrangements being taken by the 

 brothers and sisters of the parents. The Maori likes to obtain 

 for a son-in-law an industrious man {ihu-pukti or ilm-oneone). 



Taumou (Betrothal). 



The term taumou (of which taumaii is a variant form) is 

 applied to the custom of the betrothal of young people which 

 obtained in Maoriland. This custom was also known as 

 whakapahlwha. The little couple so betrothed, or promised, 

 by their elders would be described as he mea karangaranga. 

 Observe the etymology of the second term above : WJiaka is 

 a causative prefix ; pa = to touch, come into contact with ; 

 kfavhd = the thighs. 



It is probable that the taumou was practised only among 

 the people of good birth, and not by the common people. This 

 is the method which the evolution of marriage rites appears to 

 take : First, the cohabitation of man and woman, as among 

 savages, devoid of ceremony or ritual ; abduction, often forcible, 

 of the woman. Then as a laic institution, a social arrange- 

 ment, often followed by the purchase of the woman. In both 

 of these stages the woman is treated as a being much inferior 

 to man ; she represents so much property, and can be punished, 

 ill treated, or disposed of in any way which the husband sees 

 fit to adopt. These modes are the usus and coemptio of 

 ancient Rome. The third stage, as the Roman confarreatio , 

 in which we see the adoption of a ritual, crude at first, but 

 afterwards becoming more ceremonious as the people advance 

 in culture. Note a passage in Letourneau's " Evolution of 

 Marriage " : " We must note that at Rome, as in Greece, 

 the religious ceremony was in no way essential to the 

 marriage, which was a laic and civil institution in the first 

 place." Quite so, for only the upper classes had this ceremony 

 performed at their marriages, hence is it termed the "aristo- 

 cratic marriage." 



Now, the Maori was iu this third stage of marriage-evolu- 

 tion. He was adopting, or adapting, ritual to his old-time 



