Part 11 (2/2)

”They have been falling in love at Vunivanua,” she answers; ”I, too, have fallen in love. I love your lovely son, Vasunilawedua.”

Na Ulumatua rose to his feet. He loosened a tambua whale's tooth from the canoe.

”This,” he said, presenting it to her, ”is my offering to you for your return. My son cannot wed you, lady.”

Tears stream from her eyes, they stream down on her breast.

”Let me only live outside his house,” she says; ”I will sleep upon the wood-pile. If I may only light his seluka [cigarrette] for him, I shall rejoice.

If I may only hear his voice from a distance, it will suffice. Life will be pleasant to me.”

Na Ulumatua replied, ”Be magnanimous, lady, and return.

We have many girls of our own. Return to your own land.

Vasunilawedua cannot wed a stranger.”

Sova.n.a.lasikula went away crying.

She returned to her own town, forlorn.

Her life was sadness.

Ia nam bosulu.

Tregear (102) describes the ”wooing house” in which New Zealand girls used to stand up in the dark and say: ”I love so-and-so, I want him for a husband;” whereupon the chosen lover, if willing, would say yes, or cough to signify his a.s.sent. Among the Pueblo Indians

”the usual order of courts.h.i.+p is reversed; when a girl is disposed to marry, she does not wait for a young man to propose to her, but selects one to her own liking and consults her father, who visits the parents of the youth and acquaints them with his daughter's wishes. It seldom happens that any objections to the match are made” (Bancroft, I., 547);

and concerning the Spokane Indians the same writer says (276) that a girl ”may herself propose if she wishes.” Among the Moquis, ”instead of the swain asking the hand of the fair one, she selects the young man who is to her fancy, and then her father proposes the match to the sire of the lucky youth” (Schoolcraft, IV., 86). Among the Dariens, says Heriot (325), ”it is considered no mark of forwardness” in a woman ”openly to avow her inclination,” and in Paraguay, too, women were allowed to propose (Moore, 261). Indian girls of the Hudson River region

”were not debarred signifying their desire to enter matrimonial life. When one of them wished to be married, she covered her face with a veil and sat covered as an indication of her desire. If she attracted a suitor, negotiations were opened with parents or friends, presents given, and the bride taken” (Ruttenber).

A comic mode of catching a husband is described in an episode from the tale ”Owa.s.so and Wayoond” (Schoolcraft, _A.R._ II., 210-11):

”Manjikuawis was forward in her advances toward him.

He, however, paid no attention to it, and shunned her.

She continued to be very a.s.siduous in attending to his wants, such as cooking and mending his moca.s.sins. She felt hurt and displeased at his indifference, and resolved to play him a trick. Opportunity soon offered.

The lodge was s.p.a.cious, and she dug a hole in the ground, where the young man usually sat, covering it very carefully. When the brothers returned from the chase the young man threw himself down carelessly at the usual place, and fell into the cavity, his head and feet remaining out, so that he was unable to extricate himself. 'Ha! ha!' cried Manjikuawis, as she helped him out, 'you are mine, I have caught you at last, and I did it on purpose.' A smile came over the young man's face, and he said, 'So be it, I will be yours;' and from that moment they lived happily as man and wife.”

It was a common thing among various Indian tribes for the women to court distinguished warriors; and though they might have no choice in the matter, they could at any rate place themselves temptingly in the way of these braves, who, on their part, had no occasion to be coy, since they could marry all the squaws they pleased. The squaws, too, did not hesitate to indulge, if not in two husbands, in more than one lover. Commenting on the Mandans, for instance, Maximilian Prinz zu Wied declares (II., 127) that ”coyness is not a virtue of the Indian women; they often have two or three lovers at a time.” Among the Pennsylvania Indians it was a common thing for a girl to make suit to a young man.

”Though the first address may be by the man, yet the other is the most common. The squaws are generally very immodest in their words and actions, and will often put the young men to the blush. The men commonly appear to be possessed of much more modesty than the women.” (Bancroft, II., 140.)

Even a coating of culture does not seem to curb the young squaw's propensity to make the first advances. Captain R.H. Pratt (_U.S. Geol.

and G.S_., IX., 260), of the Carlisle School, relates an amusing story of a Kiowa young man who, under a variety of circ.u.mstances, ”never cared for girl. 'But when Laura say she love me, then I began to care for girl.'”

In his _First Footsteps_ (85, 86) Burton gives a glimpse of the ”coyness” of Bedouin women:

”We met a party of Esa girls, who derided my color and doubted the fact of my being a Moslem. The Arabs declared me to be a shaykh of shaykhs, and translated to the prettiest of the party an impromptu proposal of marriage. She showed but little coyness and stated her price to be an Andulli or necklace, a couple of Tobes--she asked one too many--a few handfuls of beads, and a small present for her papa. She promised, navely enough, to call next day and inspect the goods. The publicity of the town did not deter her, but the shamefacedness of my two companions prevented our meeting again.”

In his book on Southern Abyssinia Johnston relates how, while staying at Murroo, he was strongly recommended to follow the example of his companions and take a temporary wife. There was no need of hunting for helpmates--they offered themselves of their own accord. One of the girls who presented herself as a candidate was stated by her friends to be a very strong woman, who had already had four or five husbands.

”I thought this a rather strange recommendation,” he adds, ”but it was evidently mentioned that she might find favor in my eyes.” He found that the best way out of such a dilemma was to engage the first old hag that came along and leave it to her to ward off the others.

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