thing
almost entirely into their own hands, looked out for a match in a rich
family, and, if that family was agreeable to it, the affair was pushed
on, whether or not the daughter was disposed to it. She, too, as a
matter of etiquette, must be attended by her complement of one or
more young women. According to this system, a chief might have some
ten or a dozen wives and concubines in a short time. Owing, however,
to quarrelling and jealousies, many of them soon returned to their
parental home; and it was rare to find a chief with more than two
wives living with him at the same time.

_Divorce._--If the marriage had been contracted merely for the sake of
the property and festivities of the occasion, the wife was not likely
to be more than a few days or weeks with her husband. With or without
leave, she soon found her way home to her parents. If, however, a
couple had lived together for years and wished to separate, if they
were mutually agreed, they did it in a more formal way. They talked
over the matter coolly, made a fair division of their property, and
then the wife was conveyed back to her friends, taking with her any
young children, and leaving those more advanced with their father. A
woman might thus go home and separate entirely from her husband; but,
while that husband lived, she dared not marry another. Nor could she
marry even after his death, if he was a chief of high rank, without
the special permission of the family with which she had connected
herself by marriage. Any one who broke through the custom, and married
her without this, was liable to have his life taken from him by that
family, or at least he had to pay them a heavy fine.

_Widows._--The brother of a deceased husband considered himself
entitled to have his brother's wife, and to be regarded by the orphan
children as their father. If he was already married, she would,
nevertheless, live with him as a second wife. In the event of there
being several brothers, they met and arranged which of them was to act
the part of the deceased brother. The principal reason they alleged
for the custom was a desire to prevent the woman and her children
returning to her friends, and thereby diminishing the number and
influence of their own family. And hence, failing a brother, some
other relative would offer himself, and be received by the widow.
Should none of them, however, wish to live with her, or should there
be any unwillingness on her part, she was, in