LAW CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 199 
engagement had been made, nothing could be 
more brittle than the bond which held together 
those united in matrimony. The engagement was 
not regarded as binding any longer than the caprice 
or inclination of the parties dictated. Accustomed 
thus to relieve themselves for any unpleasantness 
in temper, &c. it was to be feared that the separa¬ 
tions resulting from them would lead to the arrang¬ 
ing of new contracts. To avoid the confusion and 
inconvenience of this, the present regulation was 
introduced; and although it was not supposed that 
hard labour would revive affection in the bosoms of 
those who, notwithstanding they had solemnly 
agreed to dwell together for life, had yet become 
estranged from each other; yet it was presumed, 
that the admonition from the magistrate, and the 
consequence of obstinate alienation, might induce 
the parties to impose a little restraint upon their 
tempers, and to make an effort to live together in 
peace, if not in kindness and in love. 
The degradation of the female sex is an invari¬ 
able accompaniment of paganism; and, in addition 
to the humiliation and slavery to which those in the 
South Sea Islands were reduced while the com¬ 
munity were heathens, they were often exposed to 
the sufferings of hunger and want, from the neglect 
or unkindness of their savage and imperious hus¬ 
bands. 
The thirteenth enactment, requiring provision to 
be made for them, may be regarded as an indica¬ 
tion of the light in which the nation at this time 
viewed their former treatment of the females, or 
an expression of their determination to prevent its 
recurrence. 
The law concerning marriage is a most important 
enactment, and may be justly regarded as the basis 
