ay perhaps have been partly due to the absence of those
lagoons which, formed by coral reefs, elsewhere enabled the natives to
acquire confidence and skill in sailing on smooth and sheltered waters.
The same cause may also, perhaps, explain why fishing was comparatively
little practised by the Marquesans. We are told that as an occupation it
was despised by such as owned a piece of land of any extent, and that
only the poorer class of people, who depended on the sea for a
livelihood, addicted themselves to it. They caught fish by means both of
nets and of lines with hooks neatly made of mother-of-pearl; also they
stupefied the fish by a certain mashed root, which the fisherman
distributed in the water by diving, and then caught the fish as they
rose to the surface.[37]

[36] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 287; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i.
163 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 150; Porter, _op. cit._,
ii. 12-14; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 338; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.
Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 280-282.

[37] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 163.

Sec. 4. _Polyandry, Adoption, Exchange of Names_

The social life of the Marquesan islanders presented some peculiar
features. Thus they are said to have practised the rare custom of
polyandry. On this subject Stewart observes: "We have yet met with no
instance, in any rank of society, of a male with two wives, but are
informed that for one woman to have two husbands is a universal habit.
Some favourite in the father's household or retinue at an early period
becomes the husband of the daughter, who still remains under the
paternal roof till contracted in marriage to a second individual, on
which she removes with her first husband to his habitation, and both
herself and original companion are supported by him."[38] Melville
describes the custom in substantially the same way, and adds, "No man
has more than one wife, and no wife of mature years has less than two
husbands,--sometimes she has three, but such instances are not
frequent." He seems to have attributed the practice to a scarcity of
women; for he tells us that "the males considerably outnumber the
females."[39] The same view was taken at a later date by Dr. Clavel, who
observes: "In the islands where the women are in a minority we may to
this day observe tolerably numerous cases of polyandry. Thus at Ua-Una I
met some women who had each two husbands, almost always one of them
young and the other old. Such households