444 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
of man to invent the plan of communicating words by 
marks on paper, they have sometimes asked us, if, in 
the first instance, the knowledge of it were not com¬ 
municated to mankind by God himself. 
In the governor's family is an interesting girl, who 
is called his daughter, and has been spoken of as the 
future consort of the young prince Kauikeoule, instead 
of Nahienaena his sister. 
Marriage contracts in the Sandwich Islands are 
usually concluded by the parents or relations of both 
parties, or by the man and the parents or friends of 
the woman. 
We are not aware that the parents of the woman 
receive any thing from the husband, or give any dowry 
with the wife. Their ceremonies on the occasion are 
very few, and chiefly consist in the bridegroom’s cast¬ 
ing a piece of tapa or native cloth over the bride, in 
the presence of her parents or relations. Feasting is 
general, and the friends of both parties contribute 
towards furnishing the entertainment. 
The marriage tie is loose, and the husband can 
dismiss his wife on any occasion. 
The number of males is much greater than that of 
females in all the islands, in consequence of the girls 
being more frequently destroyed in infancy, as less use¬ 
ful than the males for purposes of war, fishing, &c. We 
do not know the exact proportion here; but in the So¬ 
ciety Islands, in all our early schools, the proportion of 
girls to boys was as three to four, or four to five, though 
since the abolition of infanticide the numbers are equal. 
Polygamy is allowed among all ranks, but practised 
only by the chiefs, whose means enable them to main¬ 
tain a plurality of wives. 
