MARRIAGE. 
323 
is brought a stranger by her captor; and rarely do you see a 
form of unusual grace and elegance, but it is marked and scarred 
by the furrows of old wounds; and many a female thus wanders 
several hundred miles from the home of her infancy, being 
carried off successively to distant and more distant points.” 
The menses commence to flow among the native 
females at an earlier age than among Europeans, 
frequently beginning at about twelve ; they are also 
subject to many irregularities in their periodical 
return, arising probably from the kind of life they 
lea dan d the nature of the diet upon which they 
live. I have known cases where this irregularity 
has extended to three months. Child-bearing does 
not commence often before the age of sixteen, nor 
have I ever noticed pregnant women under that age. 
In inquiries conducted by Mr. Moorhouse among the 
natives of Adelaide, that gentleman ascertained, that 
as many as nine children have occasionally been 
born to one woman ; that the average number is 
about five ; but that each mother only reared an 
average of two. At childbirth, the placenta, which 
is considered as sacred, is carefully put away from 
the reach of the dogs as soon as thrown off from the 
uterus, and the female is up and following her usual 
avocations a very few hours after the accouchement. 
Instances have occurred of women sitting up, and 
asking for food an hour after confinement, though 
wet with rain, and having very little fire. Two 
days after it, I have seen a woman walking two or 
three miles, and going out to look for food in her 
