brothers voluntarily gave him, or the legacy made by his father in his favor.  If the father chose to favor any of his children in his will, he did so.  If the dead man left no children, all his brothers inherited his property, having equal shares therein; and if he had no brothers, his cousins-german would inherit; if he had no cousins, all his kinsmen.  His property, then, went to the children, if he had any; if not, his brothers were necessarily the heirs; if he had no brothers, his first cousins; and in default of these, all his relatives shared the estate equally.

Chapter Tenth

Which treats of marriage customs in these islands

Marriage of the chiefs. Great mistakes have been made regarding the marriages formed among the natives of this country since they have become Christians, because the marriage customs once observed among the natives have not been clearly understood.  Therefore some religious join them in marriage, while others release them, and others reestablish the marriage, thus creating great confusion.  For this reason, I have diligently endeavored to bring to light the way in which they observed the marriage ceremonies, which are as follows.  When any man wishes to marry, he, since the man always asks the woman, calls in certain timaguas who are respected in the village. (This is what the chiefs do.  For there appear to be three ranks of men in these islands—­namely, chiefs, timaguas, who are freemen, and slaves—­each class having different marriage customs.) The chiefs, then, I say, send as go-betweens some of their timaguas, to negotiate the marriage.  One of these men takes the young man’s lance from his father, and when he reaches the house of the girl’s father he thrusts the spear into the staircase of the house; and while he holds the lance thus, they invoke their gods and ancestors, requesting them to be propitious to this marriage.  If the marriage takes place, the lance belongs to the go-between, or it is redeemed.

After the marriage is agreed upon—­that is to say, after fixing the amount of the dowry which the husband pays to the wife (which among the chiefs of these islands is generally the sum of one hundred taes, in gold, slaves, and jewels, and is equivalent to one hundred pesos)—­they go to bring the bride from the house of her parents.  One of the Indians takes her on his shoulders; and on arriving at the foot of the stairway to the bridegroom’s house, she affects coyness, and says that she will not enter.  When many entreaties have proved useless, the father-in-law comes out and promises to give her a slave if she will go up.  She mounts the staircase, for the slave; but when she reaches the top of the stairway and looks into her father-in-law’s house and sees the people assembled within, she again pretends to be bashful, and the father-in-law must give her another slave.  After she has entered, the same thing takes place; and he must give her a