Shay REV. GEORGE A. SHAW, F.Z.S., ON 
illegitimate, is looked upon as a strong recommendation to 
any woman seeking a husband. Unfortunately the same 
strictness is not exercised towards the young men, and there 
is a very loose code of morals for them, although they look 
for the utmost purity in their wives. 
The marriage customs of the Taimoro are different in 
many respects from those of the Hova, both in the initiation 
and in the ceremonies connected with the wedding. Unhke 
the Hova, a Taimoro youth chooses his own bride, and tries 
to win her, in the first instance, without any consultation 
with parents or relatives on either side. There is also a 
sense of shame-facedness incident to lovers in other parts of 
the world, and a dread of being laughed at that leads a youth 
in making his first onslaught on the heart of the girl upon 
whom he has set his choice to pay his first visits secretly. 
He seems to dread the pointed finger and the sneering: 
‘Ah! So-and-so has gone to try and obtain the consent of 
Miss ;’ the salutation which always assails the ear of any 
young fellow who is caught making this first call. And the 
Taimoro lasses know how to coquet with their suitors, so 
that it is seldom that consent is given in less than a month. 
This consent at last gained, the bridegroom comes at night 
and fetches home the bride, who remains in his house a week, 
before they go formally to ask the consent of the father and 
mother. ‘This is called the “ showing of the woman.” ‘Two 
or three bottles of rum, a half-measure of white rice, and one 
fowl, are taken as a present to the father and mother of the 
bride, and, their consent gained, the young couple return 
home to the house that he has been building during the time 
the damsel has kept him waiting for his answer. After 
another week, a further present of money, either a shilling, 
two shillings, two dollars, or three dollars, with rice, a fowl, 
and two bottles of rum, are taken to the parents and pre- 
sented in the presence of two or three witnesses taker by the 
bridegroom. This they call the “ hamaky volana” or the 
home-coming. Then once again rice, fowls, and rum are 
presented, and the marriage ceremonies are complete. The 
woman is supposed to furnish towards the housekeeping 20 
or 30 mats for the floor, a stock of sleeping-mats, 4 or 5 
baskets of white rice, one cock, a looking-glass, a calabash 
of grease, a big cooking-spoon, a tin dipper, and a wooden 
sifter. 
A procession of damsels is formed to bring home the bride 
and these belongings. When she arrives, she and her atten- 
