MARRIAGE. 
163 
karakia or any rite to mark an event, which in nearly every 
other part of the world, is accounted the most joyous in life.* 
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, frequently some distant relatives would 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 the girl, either by persuasion or force. If con¬ 
fined in a house, they would pull it down, and if they gained 
access, then a fearful contest would ensue. The unfortunate 
female thus placed between two contending parties, would 
soon be divested of every rag of clothing, and thus would be 
seized by her head, hair, or limbs, and as those who contended 
for her became tired with the struggle, fresh combatants would 
supply their places from the rear, climbing over the shoulders 
of their friends, and so edge themselves into the mass imme¬ 
diately round the woman, whose cries and shrieks would be 
unheeded by her savage friends: in this way, the poor creature 
was often nearly torn to pieces. These savage contests some¬ 
times 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 she had received. But 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 in the case 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 
* In Burmah also there are no religious ceremonies at marriage.—See 
Malcolm’s Travels in Burmah. 
M 2 
