4 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



to. As a rule, the marriage is not consummated until the girl is 

 at full puberty, but what with the advent of Europeans and the 

 increasing competition for the possession of wives, she is now 

 often taken possession of at an earlier age, indeed so soon as the 

 convenient opportunity occurs. The public ceremonial of marriage 

 consists in the bride building the bridegroom's hut and lighting 

 the fire there. 



7. In the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay, betrothal is left 

 to chance, the arrangements for which are generally brought 

 to a head by the boy's father's sister. When, before puberty, 

 the boy's tooth is being knocked out, the names of various 

 eligible girls are called, the one which happens to be called when 

 the tooth is actually out being recognised as the betrothed ; 

 needless to say, the name of the favourite is always kept to the 

 very last. The Koko-warra speak of the girl betrothed by a 

 special term ; if of the same tribe, she is generally chosen from a 

 district different from that of her future husband's. After the 

 young man has passed the first initiation ceremony, and the girl's 

 parents, for family and other considerations, consider him old 

 enough, he is brought to the girl's camp. It is the girl's father 

 \\ ho brings him from the single men's quarters where he has been 

 camping, and leads him during the course of the night into his 

 future bride's hut, whence her mother has just previously taken 

 her departure. The alleged object of this arrangement is for the 

 girl to get accustomed to the presence of her future husband, her 

 parents keeping strict watch at the hut entrance to see that no 

 sexual liberties take place and to ensure the youth's return to 

 his own quarters before day-break. This procedure continues 

 perhaps for a few weeks, certainly for two or three, the girl and 

 her parents being fed at the trouble, and mollified (by spears, 

 necklaces, etc.) at the expense of the young man. When finally 

 the mother-in-law builds a hut, lights a fire, and leaves her 

 daughter there, the young man enters to take up his permanent 

 abode, and consummate the marriage undisturbed, his parents- 

 in-law, henceforth tabu to him, returning to their own camp. It 

 will be noted that there is no restriction of age or social status 

 at which the bride may be delivered up, and it is of no uncommon 

 occurrence to see an individual carrying on his shoulder his little 

 child-wife who is perhaps too tired to toddle any further ; the 

 only essential is that the girl must always have an incisor 

 knocked out previous to her having sexual connection with her 

 lord and master. All that the wife's parents look to is that 

 their son-in-law is of suitable age and rank and blessed with an 

 abundance of worldly goods, e.g., spears, wommeras, necklaces, 

 etc., which are invariably presented as a sort of solatium. 



