MARRIAGE 75 



Marriage by capture may exist together with more 

 peaceful methods of obtaining a wife. Among the 

 Macas Indians, a wife, when of the same tribe as her 

 husband, was acquired by purchase; women of an- 

 other tribe by force. 



Symbolical wife-capture occurs very frequently in 

 marriage ceremonies, but does not always indicate a 

 survival of real capture. " The Araucanians, for 

 instance, consider the carrying off of the bride 

 by pretended violence as an essential prerequisite 

 to the nuptials, and, according to Mr. E. R. 

 Smith, it is even ' a point of honour ' with the 

 bride to resist and struggle, however willing she 

 may be." In Wakamba, marriage goes by pur- 

 chase, but the bridegroom must carry off the 

 bride in some way or other. " Among the Be- 

 douins of Sinai, the bridegroom seizes the woman, 

 whom he has legally purchased, drags her out of her 

 father's tent, lifts her, violently struggling, upon his 

 camel, holds her fast while he bears her away, and 

 finally pulls her forcibly into his house, though her 

 powerful resistance may be the occasion of serious 

 wounds." Among the Mosquito Indians, after the 

 wedding is arranged and the presents paid, the bride- 

 groom seizes his bride and carries her off, followed 

 by her relatives, who pretend to try to rescue her. 

 In ancient Rome, the bride fled to her mother's lap, 

 but was forcibly carried off by the bridegroom and 

 his friends. This seems to have been less a symbol 

 of capture than of the reluctance of the bride to 

 leave her home and go to a strange man. In Wales, 

 on the morning of the wedding-day the bridegroom, 

 accompanied by his friends on horseback, carried-off 



