Matrimony in the Penrhyn Islands is as
serious a business as it is in England, and
requires some consideration. It is true, no
clergyman is required; but if you rub your
nose against your bride elect's nose, pat her on
the head, and call her wife in the presence of
witnesses, it holds good as it would in Scotland.
There is no court of probate and divorce, no
Sir Cresswell Cresswell, no damages asked or
given; but if you marry into a tribe you
become one of it, and your father-in-law, who
generally uses a sharp-pointed spear instead of
the little cane carried by more civilised men,
and has his clothes not from Poole's, but from
Dame Nature, would unhesitatingly run you
through the back, or knock your brains out, if
you did anything against the regulations of his
tribe. Our author was forced into this third
marriage. The young lady was violently in
love with him, and the tribe wished it. We
quote his own words:

"I felt sorry for her, but I was inexorably
hard-hearted, and told her I should leave that
evening. I tried to disengage myself from her,
but, throwing herself on the ground, she clung
to me, exclaiming, 'Cary coi ahana! Cary coi
ahana!' (You shall not go.) She screamed for
help, and not without success, for several
women—amongst the rest, her mother—
attracted by her shrieks, rushed to her assistance.
All things considered, why not take unto myself
another wife? Having two already, I need not
scruple about a third, and, so resolving, I raised
my dark-skinned beauty from her recumbent
position, patted her on the head, and, calling
her my wife, said I would take her to Matunga;
whereat, in testimony of delight, she brought
her nose into contact with mine, and treated me
to an amount of friction which was more flattering
than agreeable. Our party continued to
swell till nearly the whole village had congregated;
and when they heard the result of all the
noise, the entire crowd returned in great joy to
the hamlet. As for the little girl, she seemed
overjoyed beyond all proper decorum, dancing
along before the party, and performing her
merriest antics for my amusement. Couriers
were despatched to bring in all the kith and kin
of the bride and their friends. The marriage
breakfast was not magnificent, although in the
royal family. It is not usual for these people
to make much, if any, distinction on such
occasions; and they have nothing corresponding to
our bridecake—in fact, it was strictly an ordinary
meal, the same as on any other day. The
bride herself was not visible, custom, rather
than modesty, compelling her to remain in
retirement. After the morning meal, the different
groups assembled round the chief's tent, where
the groom and his friends were already seated.
The men formed in a row for the pehu (ceremony),
and the women, before sitting down,
arranged their titchès, that they might not
crumple them, as they prepared to join the
chant. The bride, meanwhile, had not
appeared; and it was not till she had been angrily
called, that, from a closed tent, some young
girls emerged with what seemed to be a bundle
of mats in the centre. This, however, was
really the young bride, who, coming forth, ran
towards the tent where I was seated, and then,
darting back, was again enveloped in the mats
and withdrawn to the remotest corner of the
house. The bride does not entirely disrobe
herself of the matting for several days after the
marriage, when she appears with the titchè,
which she wears constantly for the remainder of
her life. Whilst the young lady hides her
maiden blushes under the matting, and the
gentleman sits demurely, but more confidently, in
front of the hut, the ceremony of the pehu
commences, accompanied by rather an extra amount
of crying, scratching, and bleeding, making a
most melancholy affair of the happy event. The
bride is then handed over to the oldest relatives
or friends present for some future ceremonies,
which over, the happy couple retire to their
new abode."

Haka Puta makes an excellent housekeeper,
but gets jealous of Chera Puna. She tells her
husband she will leave him, when he observes
she has no canoe. The brave girl replies:

"No canoe! No, true; but I can swim;
the girls of Tantua can swim better than the
men of Omuka, and I will swim back (ten
miles). You wouldn't give me a canoe, even to
save me from the sharks; but you can keep your
canoe for Chera Puna, and your fish for Chera
Puna. Wa, wa, piki!—and you can leave me.
Why did you not stay with her when you
presented her with fish and cocoa-nuts? Why did
you not keep her in your arms? Why come
back to me? I don't want you. For shame!
Go off to her now!"

We candidly own, as disinterested critics, that
we entirely side with Haka Puta's sentiments.

We have not touched upon the adventures of
the other members of the unfortunate Chatham,
or on Lamont's desperate attempts to escape
in a canoe of his own fabrication. The desire
to return to a civilised land drowned every other
consideration.

"During all this time," says Lamont, "I had
never ceased to keep my daily watch for the
ship that never came. It was approaching the
season when whalers from the north frequently
take a voyage through the southern latitudes to
fill up with sperm oil after their cruise among
the regions of the bight whale, which produces
the common whale oil. . . . . . One day, as I was
staggering along under the weight of a huge
plank for building purposes, I heard, some way
off, yet distinct enough to make my heart bound
with hope, the long wished-for words, 'Te oaka
nuè' (the great ship). The sound to me was a
promise of redemption. Home, lost friends,
past scenes, crowded on my mind, almost
overwhelming my reason. Casting my plank from
my shoulder, I rushed towards the village, where
I found the natives running to and fro in almost
as great excitement as myself, rapidly arming,
to be prepared for any emergency. I was
informed that a large ship had been reported by a
canoe as having been seen passing the island of