OH, SHOOT! 



"Suppose he doesn't love your girl?" I 

 queried. Billy was puzzled, so I amended 

 my question. "Suppose he doesn't want to 

 get married?" 



"Oh! He will say so, and we will ask some- 

 body else. If he don't mind, bimeby he will 

 visit us. When night comes and the girl goes 

 in her hammock, we will take the man and put 

 him in the hammock, too. Sometimes the man 

 gets up and runs away." 



"What then?" 



Billy shrugged. 



"That means he ain't ready to be married. 

 If he doesn't run away he will go ashore in 

 the morning and bring wood for the fire. The 

 girl will cook his breakfast and they are 

 married." 



"Do you have divorce?" 



" Oh yes. Sometimes a man or a woman is 

 lazy. Then they go apart, and the man must 

 move to another island, and they can't marry 

 again for five years." 



Marriage does not separate the San Bias 

 woman from her parents, for the husband 

 comes to live with her. In consequence, a 

 family of twenty members, all living in a great, 

 single-roomed house, is not uncommon. While 



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