36 MARRIAGES. [ PART I. 



mities, but frequently without any regular design. 

 The general effect of the tattoo is to give the face a 

 rigorous and unchangeable appearance : it prevents 

 the symptoms of age from becoming visible so early 

 as they otherwise would do, but it is not so for- 

 midable as it has been represented by some travel- 

 lers. The tattoo of the lips, however, in women, 

 gives them a livid, deadly appearance, certainly not 

 to their advantage. 



Although few or no ceremonies are connected 

 with marriage, the customs regarding married wo- 

 men are strict and solemn. No marriage or con- 

 nection for life takes place before the young people 

 have attained a certain age, from eighteen to twenty 

 for instance, with a little difference perhaps in the 

 two sexes. It is not, however, rare that a child is 

 promised in marriage, and then she becomes strictly 

 " tapu" until she has attained the proper age. The 

 suitor for a wife either succeeds by a long and con- 

 tinued courtship, e-aru-aru, if the girl is at first 

 unwilling to bestow her inclinations on him, or, if 

 she is propitious, a secret pinching of the hands on 

 both sides declares the affirmative. The latter is 

 called ropa. If the girl is so lucky as to have two 

 suitors who have equal pretensions, so that neither 

 herself nor the father ventures a decision, " e-puna- 

 rua" is ordered, or what we would call a pulling- 

 match a dragging of her arms by each of the 

 suitors in opposite directions, the stronger obtaining 

 the victory, but often with very injurious conse- 



