an alteration; but if not, the girls generally go to live with their husbands about the age of twelve, and sometimes even before that.  Relatives nearer than cousins are not allowed to marry, and this alliance does not generally take place.  Female orphans belong to the nearest male relative, as also does a widow, instead of to the nearest male relative of the husband, as was found to be the case in Western Australia by Captain Grey.  Two or three months generally elapse before the widow goes to another husband; but if the wife dies, the man takes another as soon as he can get one.  If a woman, having young children, join another tribe, the children go with her; but I am not aware whether they would remain permanently attached to that tribe or not.  Brothers often barter their sisters for wives for themselves, but it can only be done with the parents’ consent, or after their death.  If a wife be stolen, war is always continued until she is given up, or another female in her place.

There is no ceremony connected with the undertaking of marriage.  In those cases where I have witnessed the giving away of a wife, the woman was simply ordered by the nearest male relative in whose disposal she was, to take up her “rocko,” the bag in which a female carries the effects of her husband, and go to the man’s camp to whom she had been given.  Marriage is not looked upon as any pledge of chastity, indeed no such virtue is recognised.

[Note 76:  Foeminae sese per totam pene vitam prostituunt.  Apud plurimas tribus juventutem utriusque sexus sine discrimine concumbere in usus est.  Si juvenis forte indigenorum coetum quendam in castris manentem adveniat ubi quaevis sit puella innupta, mos est; nocte veniente et cubantibus omnibus, illam ex loco exsurgere et juvenem accedentem cum illo per noctem manere unde in sedem propriam ante diem redit.  Cui foemina sit, eam amicis libenter praebet; si in itinere sit, uxori in castris manenti aliquis ejus supplet ille vires.  Advenis ex longinquo accedentibus foeminas ad tempus dare hospitis esse boni judicatur.  Viduis et foeminis jam senescentibus saepe in id traditis, quandoque etiam invitis et insciis cognatis, adolescentes utuntur.  Puellae tenerae a decimo primum anno, et pueri a decimo tertio vel quarto, inter se miscentur.  Senioribus mos est, si forte gentium plurium castra appropinquant, viros noctu huic inde transeuntes, uxoribus alienis uti et in sua castra ex utraque parte mane redire.  Temporis quinetiam certis, machina quaedam ex ligno ad formam ovi facta, sacra et mystica, uam foeminas aspicere haud licitam, decem plus minus uncias longa et circa quatuor lata insculpta ac figuris diversis ornata, et ultimam perforata partem ad longam (plerumque e crinibus humanis textam) inscrendam chordam cui nomen “Mooyumkarr,” extra castra in gyrum versata, stridore magno e percusso aere facto, libertatem coeundi juventuti esse tum concessam omnibus indicat.  Parentes saepe infantum, viri uxorum quaestum corporum faciunt.  In urbe Adelaide panis praemio parvi aut paucorum denariorum meretrices fieri eas libenter cogunt.  Facile potest intelligi, amorem inter nuptos vix posse esse grandem, quum omnia quae ad foeminas attinent, hominum arbitrio ordinentur et tanta sexuum societati laxitas, et adolescentes quibus ita multae ardoris explendi dantur occasiones, haud magnopere uxores, nisi ut servas desideraturos.