ROYAL 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     GAZETTE. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     59 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     POLYNESIAN WOOING3 
     
    

    
     The Tulafale, or heads of families, who, as such, are the 
     
     chiefs‘ councillors. met in solemn conclave, and selected a 
     
     bride of suitable rank; and as the dowry which accompanied 
     
     the bride was always distributed amongst them, these sages 
     
     took care to select one whose tribe was able to give a large 
     
     amount of property. The selection made, food was formally 
     
     taken to the tribe. and the chief’s daughter as formally de- 
     
     manded. If the food were accepted, it was an intimation 
     
     that the demand was favourably entertained. If left juSI 
     
     where the suitors deposited it, in front of the fala tele. it 
     
     was an intimation that the demand was rejected. The ulti. 
     
     mate acceptance or rejection of the suit was with the Tula- 
     
     fale of the tribe to which the girl belonged, and their deci- 
     
     sion was supposed to be final. Butif, notwithstanding their 
     
     rejection, the young lady had a penchant for the young chief 
     
     Who thus. wooed her, she elepcd with him some fine night, 
     
     and the first the family and. tribe knew of her flight was the 
     
     announcement ofthe fact by the friends of the young man 
     
     as they walked‘ through the village, shouting his name, coa- 
     
     pled with hers, and in extempore songs proclaimingthe praises 
     
     and. extolling. the virtuesof the hero of the adventure. Fur- 
     
     ther objection was-then-uselcss, and, though great excitement 
     
     always followiedban elopemcnt, it soon cooled down, and in 
     
     the course ofthree or four months all parties Were duly. recon- 
     
     ciled by the exchange of dowries. If the Tula-fale consented 
     
     and-.- the girl objected, she was nevertheless compelled to yield. 
     
     But no sooner was the exchange of property consummated 
     
     than, she ran away from her husband; and then, according 
     
     to circumstances, she was either driven back by her father 
     
     or brothers, or retained by them until more property was pre- 
     
     sented by her husband. When, on presentation of the food, 
     
     the suit was at once accepted, the contract was held there 
     
     and. then completed. and. the tribes retired, each to prepare 
     
     for the dowries, for both bridegroom and bride were accom- 
     
     panied by a dowry. That presented by the bridegroom was 
     
     called 020a. and consisted of prepared food of all kinds, to- 
     
     gether with live pigs, poultry, canoes. clubs. and spears and 
     
     laterally of muskets. powder, hatchets. calicoes, and indeed 
     
     of all kinds ofwhite man's property. The dowry accompany- 
     
     ing the bride was called toga. (tonga,)- because consisting of 
     
     fine mats, and siapo, or native cloth. The Tulafale of each 
     
     tribe provided these dowries, which, after being exchanged 
     
     at the celebration of the nuptials. were again distributed 
     
     amongst them by the chiefs, the fathers of the bridegroom 
     
     and bride, and great care, was required. to give to each Tula- 
     
     fale as near an equivalent as possible to the contribution he 
     
     had made, to-prevent nepotism on the part of the chief, and 
     
     jeaously amongst his followers. While the preparations were 
     
     in progress, the bridegroom and his tribe .continued occa- 
     
     sionally to take food to the bride and her tribe, and some of 
     
     the personal followers of the chief remained with the lady as her 
     
     attendants, and to guard against the-preposals of rivals. In 
     
     the course of three or four months. the preparations 
     
     being completed, the day was named for the nuptials, which 
     
     always took place at. the town of the-bridegroom. When the two 
     
     tribes had assembled around the melee or public square, the 
     
     bride appeared from a neighbouring house, attended by the 
     
     old duennas in whose charge she had been reared, and follow- 
     
     ed by'ten or twelve young women. all well greased from head 
     
     to foot with scented cocoa-nut oil, and. wearing wreaths of 
     
     flowers. necklacesand head-dresses of nautilus shells, with fine 
     
     mats round their waists, and trailing far behind them. From. 
     
     the house the procession slowly moved along a pathway of 
     
     native cloth to the centre of the malae,where sat the bride- 
     
     groom. awaiting the approach of his bride, and where each 
     
     one deposited the finest mats of the thirty, which they cat‘- 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ried in their hands; and there, on a snow-white mat. imme- 
     
     diately before the young chief, the bride seated herself, the 
     
     old duennas still by her side. With appropriate songs. the 
     
     young women continued to parade from the house to the 
     
     centre of the malac, still carrying mats and cloth, until the 
     
     whole dowry was there heaped before the admiring multitude. 
     
     The chastity of the daughters of the chiefs was the pride and 
     
     the beast of their tribes. Old duennas were duly set apart 
     
     to attend, and to guard their virtue and their honour from 
     
     an early age. When a young chief. on assuming his chiefly 
     
     position in his tribe, tool; the daughter of a noble to wife 
     
     the whole ofthe tribes to which bridegroom and bride belong- 
     
     etl assembledin the melee, and there the chastity of the bride 
     
     was put to thetest. If the bride passed the Ordeal honour- 
     
     any and successfully, prolonged and vehement cheers pro- 
     
     claimed the honour of the tribe, and the dignity of the chief 
     
     unsullied. and the virtue of the bride such as became one 
     
     of her fair name. In the enthusiasm of the moment, her 
     
     own immediate relatives cut their heads with stones- until 
     
     the blood flowed freely; and the old duennas, loud in songs 
     
     that told of rivers flowing fast, torrents no banks could re- 
     
     strain, seas no reefs could check, proclaimed the triumph of 
     
     their charge, and led the now trembling, bashful girl to the 
     
     gaze of the excited and cheering multitude. Again and 
     
     again cheers of applause greeted her as she paraded the 
     
     melee, which she acknowledged only by the tears that silent- 
     
     ly stole down her cheeks. Then the young attendants re- 
     
     appeared, and, relieving the old duennas of their charge, led 
     
     her to the house set apart for her private residence, where 
     
     for several days she remained in seclusion. But there was 
     
     a dark side to-the-scene. Should the ordeal reveal the dis- 
     
     grace ot‘ the tribe and the dishonour of the chief in the lost; 
     
     virtue of the daughter, her brothers, or even her father him- 
     
     self, rushed upon hcr with their clubs, and despatched her on 
     
     the scene of her fatal exposure ; every memorial of her life 
     
     was destroyed and abhorred, her very name forgotten from 
     
     the traditions of her tribe. After this ordeal, the property 
     
     collected by the bridegroom’s tribe was cxhibitedon the ma- 
     
     lae. and there formally presented to the father of the bride 
     
     and his tribe. A grand feast closed the day, and a 
     
     grand dance whiled away the hours of the night. 
     
     it is, however, now becoming customary among the 
     
     religious. portion ofthe community to send love-letters to the 
     
     girls when young men are smitten by their charms, instead. 
     
     of employing the services of friends to woo them. Of these 
     
     remarkable epistlcs. the following is a Specimen 2—“ This is 
     
     my writing to you Saema. I am Tuliau. Very great is my 
     
     love for you. Very great is my desire for you. This is my 
     
     writing to you, Seems, to ask if you will become my Wife.” 
     
     If the girl and her parents accede to the pithy request, the 
     
     parties are duly married by the missionary ;_ an exchange  
     
     property follows, according to the :ank ofthe bride and bride- 
     
     groom, and the ceremony is ended—Polynesian Remilzz's-. 
     
     cences ,‘sor Life in the Scull: Pacific Islands. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     ’I‘IIE Legislature during. the late Session having passed 
     
     “ An Act to assist Tenants in the purchase of the Foe-simple of 
     
     their Farms,” hv advancing to the 'l‘eutint ONE llAlaFot' the rimming 
     
     agreed. upon bythe Proprietor-and Tenant, as the Purchase Money of 
     
     his Farm- 
     
     The Commissioner of Public Lands hereby gives notice 
     
     to all Tenants 
     
    
   
   
    
     desirous of availing themselves of the priyilcgc of the'above recited 
     
     Act. that he is now prepared to ASSIST SLCII I‘IQNANI‘S in the pur- 
     
     chase ot'their Farms, nsin manner and extent prov1ded undersuch Art. 
     
    
   
   
    
     FORM OF APPLICATION and full particulars may be obtained 
     
     at the 01110:: of Crown Lands, Colonial Earthling. Charlottetown. 
     
    
   
   
    
     JOHN ALDOUS, Commissioner. 
     
     Public Lands Office, May 8, 186.3. [web 20