ft no children,
all his brothers inherited his property, having equal shares therein;
and if he had no brothers, his cousins-german would inherit; if he
had no cousins, all his kinsmen. His property, then, went to the
children, if he had any; if not, his brothers were necessarily the
heirs; if he had no brothers, his first cousins; and in default of
these, all his relatives shared the estate equally.

Chapter Tenth

_Which treats of marriage customs in these islands_

_Marriage of the chiefs._ Great mistakes have been made regarding
the marriages formed among the natives of this country since they
have become Christians, because the marriage customs once observed
among the natives have not been clearly understood. Therefore some
religious join them in marriage, while others release them, and
others reestablish the marriage, thus creating great confusion. For
this reason, I have diligently endeavored to bring to light the way in
which they observed the marriage ceremonies, which are as follows. When
any man wishes to marry, he, since the man always asks the woman,
calls in certain timaguas who are respected in the village. (This
is what the chiefs do. For there appear to be three ranks of men
in these islands--namely, chiefs, timaguas, who are freemen, and
slaves--each class having different marriage customs.) The chiefs,
then, I say, send as go-betweens some of their timaguas, to negotiate
the marriage. One of these men takes the young man's lance from his
father, and when he reaches the house of the girl's father he thrusts
the spear into the staircase of the house; and while he holds the
lance thus, they invoke their gods and ancestors, requesting them
to be propitious to this marriage. If the marriage takes place,
the lance belongs to the go-between, or it is redeemed.

After the marriage is agreed upon--that is to say, after fixing the
amount of the dowry which the husband pays to the wife (which among
the chiefs of these islands is generally the sum of one hundred
taes, in gold, slaves, and jewels, and is equivalent to one hundred
pesos)--they go to bring the bride from the house of her parents. One
of the Indians takes her on his shoulders; and on arriving at the
foot of the stairway to the bridegroom's house, she affects coyness,
and says that she will not enter. When many entreaties have proved
useless, the father-in-law comes out and promises to give her a slave
if she will go up. She mounts the st