FEMALE VIRTUE. 43 



sister played no part in this scene, a characteristic ne^^ative feature 

 of the social life of these natives. However, amongst the six natives 

 was an elderly woman who was following her husband to Fiji ; and 

 her departure was evidently keenly felt by a small knot of female 

 companions on the beach. One poor creature stood at the edge of 

 the water, looking wistfully towards the boat as it was being pulled 

 away, and ciying more after the mamier of a fretful child. It was 

 the bond of a true affection that knit together the heart of these 

 poor women. In this episode I saw, to employ those beautiful lines 

 of Milton, 



" The sable cloud 

 Turn forth her silver hning on the night." 



In it was evinced the only sign of the tenderer feelings which was 

 displayed in the whole of that day's proceedings. 



It is necessary for me to touch lightly on a subject, which, 

 although less pleasing, is none the less essential to the short sketch 

 which I have presented to my readers of the domestic relations of 

 the natives in the eastern islands. Female chastity is a virtue that 

 would sound strangely in the ear of the native. Amongst their many 

 customs which when narrated strike with such a discordant note on 

 the ears of the European leader, the inhabitants of St. Christoval 

 and the adjacent islands have a usage which sufficiently enlightens 

 us as to the unrestrained character of their code of morality. For 

 two or three years after a girl has become eligible for marriage, she 

 distributes her favours amongst all the young men of the village. 

 Should she be unwilling to accept the addresses of anyone, it is but 

 necessary for her admirer to n^ake her parents some present. 

 Fathers offer their daughters to the white man in the hope of a re- 

 munerative return ; and the white men, sometimes less scrupulous 

 in their advances, provoke the hostility of the natives, and not un- 

 frequently a lamentable massacre results. Conjugal fidelity is 

 usually preserved in the limits of the same communit}^ ; but the men 

 of Santa Anna, when they exchange their wives for those of the 

 men of the adjoining St. Christoval coast, see in such a transaction 

 no loosening of the marriage-tie, and restore their wives to their 

 orio^inal position on their return to their homes. 



In considering the domestic relations of the inhabitants of 

 Bougainville Straits, we enter upon a more agreeable topic. The 

 white man on first visiting these islands is struck with the shyness 



