r hand, the father
or brother of the bride had the disposal of the property which was
given by the bridegroom. Night-dances and their attendant immoralities
wound up the ceremonies.

The marriage ceremonies of common people passed off in a house, and
with less display; but the same obscene form was gone through to which
we have referred--a custom which, doubtless, had some influence in
cultivating chastity, especially among young women of rank. There was
a fear of disgracing themselves and their friends, and a dread of a
severe beating from the latter after the ceremony to which the
faithless bride was sometimes subjected, almost as if the letter of
the Mosaic law had been carried out upon her.

But there were many marriages without any such ceremonies at all. If
there was a probability that the parents would not consent, from
disparity of rank or other causes, an elopement took place; and, if
the young man was a chief of any importance, a number of his
associates mustered in the evening, and walked through the settlement,
singing his praises and shouting out the name of the person with whom
he had eloped. This was sometimes the first intimation the parents had
of it, and, however mortified they might be, it was too late. After a
time, if the couple continued to live together, their friends
acknowledged the union by festivities and an exchange of property.

_Concubinage._--When the newly-married woman took up her abode in the
family of her husband she was attended by a daughter of her brother,
who was, in fact, a concubine. Her brother considered that if he did
not give up his daughter for this purpose, he should fail in duty and
respect towards his sister, and incur the displeasure of their
household god. Failing her brother, her mother's relatives supplied
her with this maid of honour. Hence, with his wife, a chief had one,
two, or three concubines. Each of these took with her _tonga_ as a
dowry, which, perhaps, was the most important part of the business,
for, after presenting her dowry, she might live with him or not, as
she pleased. Often the addition of these concubines to the family was
attended with all the display and ceremonies of a regular marriage.

_Polygamy._--The marriage ceremony being such a prolific source of
festivities and profit to the chief and his friends, the latter,
whether he was disposed to do it or not, often urged on another and
another repetition of what we have described. They took the