Adultery, too, was sadly prevalent, although often severely punished by private revenge.  If the injured husband sought revenge in the blood of the seducer no one thought he had done wrong.  But the worst feature of the law of private revenge was that the brother, or any near relation of the culprit, was as liable to be killed as himself.

Marriage contracts were never entered into before the parties reached the years of maturity just described.  Considerable care was taken to prevent any union between near relatives; so much so, that a list of what they deemed improper marriages would almost compare with the “Table of kindred and affinity.”  They say that, of old, custom and the gods frowned upon the union of those in whom consanguinity could be closely traced.  Few had the hardihood to run in the face of superstition; but if they did, and their children died at a premature age, it was sure to be traced to the anger of the household god on account of the forbidden marriage.

A young man rarely, in the first instance, paid his addresses in person to the object of his choice.  A present of food was taken to her and her relatives by a friend of his, who was, at the same time, commissioned to convey the proposal to her father; or, failing him, to the elder brother of the young woman.  Her consent was, of course, asked too; but that was a secondary consideration.  She had to agree if her parents were in favour of the match.  If the present of food was received and the reply favourable, the matter was considered settled.  There was also a somewhat formal meal directly after the marriage ceremony.

All parties consenting, preparations commenced, and one, two, or three months were spent collecting various kinds of property.  All the family and relatives of the bride were called upon to assist, and thus they raised a great quantity of tonga, which included all kinds of fine mats and native cloth, manufactured by the women.  This was invariably the dowry presented to the bridegroom and his friends on the celebration of the nuptials.  He and his friends, on the other hand, collected in a similar manner for the family of the bride oloa, which included canoes, pigs, and foreign property of any kind which might fall into their hands, such as knives, hatchets, trinkets, cloth, garments, etc., received through a Tongan canoe or a passing vessel.

A time was fixed when the parties assembled.  The bride and her friends, taking with them her dowry, proceeded to the home of the bridegroom, which might be in another settlement, or on an adjacent island.  If they were people of rank it was the custom that the ceremonies of the occasion pass off in the marae.  The marae is the forum or place of public assembly—­an open circular space, surrounded by bread-fruit trees, under the shade of which the people sit.  Here the bridegroom and his friends and the whole village assembled, together with the friends of the bride.