96 CUSTOMS OF NEW ZEALAND. 
goes on, for a time, more recklessly than ever. 
But I have seldom known a man, who for any 
length of time has professed the sin of witchcraft, 
die a natural death : he has fallen by the hands of 
the violent man ; and that destruction which he 
was at all times willing to bring upon others, for 
the sake of the reward he should receive for his 
evil deeds, or for the revenge which he had foster- 
ed in his heart, has unexpectedly overtaken him, 
and struck the deadly blow; when the wizard 
has gone down to the grave, unpitied and un- 
avenged. 
We proceed to notice the nature of the mar- 
riage-contract in New Zealand, and the cere- 
monies, or rather the unceremonious proceedings, 
with which it is attended. Marriages generally 
take place amongst relatives and friends ; and it 
is very rare that a wife is taken from another, or 
from a strange tribe. When a chief is desirous 
of taking to himself a wife, he fixes his views upon 
one, and, without consulting her feelings or wishes 
upon the subject, proceeds to take her by force, 
should the match be objected to by herself or her 
immediate friends. A scuffle generally ensues ; 
and in the midst of it, the poor woman comes off 
with many hurts and bruises : what between the 
determination of her friends to hold her, and that 
of the suitor to drag her to himself, she is some- 
times much mauled and injured. When the man 
has succeeded, a feast is given, and the new mar- 
ried couple proceed in peace to their home: their 
