336 
MARRIAGE. 
The ancient and most general way of obtaining* a wife was 
for the gentleman to summon his friends, and make a regular 
taua, or fight, to carry off the lady by force, and oftentimes 
with great violence ; even when a girl was bestowed in 
marriage by her parents, some distant relatives might feel 
aggrieved, and fancy they had a greater right to her as 
a wife for one of their tribe ; or, if the girl had eloped 
with some one on whom she had placed her affections, then 
her father or brothers would refuse their consent, and in 
either case would carry a taua against the husband and his 
friends, to regain possession of her, either by persuasion 
or force. If confined in a house, they would pull it down, 
and when access was gained, then a fearful contest ensued, and 
the unfortunate female thus placed between two contending 
parties, would soon be divested of every rag of clothing, and 
be seized by her head, hair, or limbs ; as those who con- 
tended for her became tired with the struggle, fresh comba- 
tants would supply their places from the rear, climbing over 
the shoulders of their friends, and so edge themselves into 
the mass immediately round the woman, whose cries and 
shrieks would be unheeded by her savage . friends, and in 
this way, the poor creature was often nearly torn to pieces ; 
these savage contests sometimes ended in the strongest party 
bearing off in triumph the naked person of the bride ; in 
some cases, after a long season of suffering, she recovered, 
to be given to a person for whom she had no affection ; in 
others, to die within a few hours or days from the injuries 
received ; it was not uncommon for the weaker party, when 
they found they could not prevail, for one of them to put an 
end to the contest by suddenly plunging his spear into the 
woman’s bosom, to hinder her from becoming the property 
of another. 
Even when all were agreeable, it was still customary for 
the bridegroom to go with a party, and appear to take her 
away by force, her friends yielding her up after a feigned 
struggle ; a few days afterwards, the parents of the lady, 
with all her relatives, came upon the bridegroom for his 
pretended abduction; after much speaking and apparent 
