MARRIAGE 77 



a good start. Again, a marriage dance may be held, 

 during which the bride breaks away, running her 

 swiftest, the bridegroom following her. If he cannot 

 catch her and bring her back before that part of the 

 dance is ended, she need not marry him, nor need 

 she return the purchase-money. 



Capture is by no means the regular manner of 

 obtaining a wife. In many tribes it is considered 

 illegal and immoral. Wife-capture, real or pretended, 

 is very often found side by side with wife-purchase, 

 which is customary among more advanced peoples and 

 is much more prevalent all over the world. We can 

 divide purchase under three heads : exchange ; service 

 rendered to the parents or guardians of the bride; 

 and payment in kind for the bride, which is in time 

 modified to an exchanging of gifts and ultimately to 

 the bestowal of a dowry upon the bride. 



" The simplest way of obtaining a wife is no doubt 

 to give a kinswoman in exchange for her," says 

 Westermarck. " The Australian male almost in- 

 variably obtains his wife or wives either as the sur- 

 vivor of a married brother or in exchange for his 

 sisters or, later in life, for his daughters. A similar 

 exchange is sometimes effected in Sumatra." 



Marriage by service is a more general custom than 

 exchange. Here the bridegroom has to earn the bride 

 by serving her father or guardian. The terms and 

 years of service differ with the various peoples. 

 Sometimes the bride is given to the man in advance; 

 at others only after service has been rendered. This 

 custom still prevails among uncivilized races. A 

 well-known ancient example is that of Jacob, who 

 served Laban seven years for Rachel, but was given 



