Marriage.
There is no such thing as marriage, in the proper sense of the word, amongst the Australians. The acts which precede matrimony are certainly not entitled to be regarded as rites. Men obtain wives by a convenient system of exchange, by conquest sometimes, and sometimes a woman is stolen. By what mode soever a man procures a bride, it is very seldom an occasion of rejoicing for the female.
The males engross the privilege of disposing of their female relations, and it often happens that an old man of sixty or seventy will add to his domestic circle a young girl of ten or twelve years of age. If the father be alive, he alone can dispose of his daughters; if he be dead, the eldest son can dispose of his sisters; and if there be no brothers, then the uncle or cousin steps in, and exchanges the women for others who become his wives. In rare cases the old men meet together and determine to whom a young woman shall be given.
A man having a daughter of thirteen or fourteen years of age arranges with some elderly person for the disposal of her, and, when all are agreed, she is brought out of the miam-miam, and told that her husband wants her. Perhaps she has never seen him, or has seen him but to loathe him. The father carries a spear and waddy, or a tomahawk, and, anticipating resistance, is thus prepared for it. The poor girl, sobbing and sighing, and muttering words of complaint, claims pity from those who will show none. If she resists the mandates of her father, he strikes her with his spear; if she rebels and screams, the blows are repeated; and if she attempts to run away, a stroke on the head from the waddy or tomahawk quiets her. The mother screams and scolds and beats the ground with her kan-nan (fighting-stick); the men, women, and children in the neighbouring huts come forth to see the sight; the dogs bark and whine; but nothing interrupts the father, who in the performance of his duty is strict, and mindful of the necessity of not only enforcing his authority but of showing to all that he means to enforce it. Seizing the bride by her long hair, the stern father drags her to the home prepared for her by her new owner. Further resistance, when she is really placed in the hands of her husband, often subjects her to brutal treatment. If she attempts to abscond, the bridegroom does not hesitate to strike her savagely on the head with his waddy; and the bridal screams and yells make the night hideous. If the girl is energetic, and absolutely refuses the man to whom she is assigned, she causes a disturbance that can be quelled only by the authority of the old men. The young fellows seize their weapons, and one or two who may have had
