reaching the home of her abductor, should she not approve of the match,
she runs to some one who can protect her; if, however, she is
satisfied, the matter is settled forthwith. With the Kalmucks there is
a regular race between the bride and bridegroom, the former having a
fair start; and Clarke was assured that no instance occurs of a girl
being caught, unless she has a partiality to the pursuer. Amongst the
wild tribes of the Malay Archipelago there is also a racing match; and
it appears from M. Bourien s account, as Sir J. Lubbock remarks, that
the race, is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to
the young man who has the good fortune to please his intended bride. A
similar custom, with the same result, prevails with the Koraks of
North-Eastern Asia.
Turning to Africa: the Kafirs buy their wives, and girls are severely
beaten by their fathers if they will not accept a chosen husband; but
it is manifest from many facts given by the Rev. Mr. Shooter, that they
have considerable power of choice. Thus very ugly, though rich men,
have been known to fail in getting wives. The girls, before consenting
to be betrothed, compel the men to shew themselves off first in front
and then behind, and exhibit their paces. They have been known to
propose to a man, and they not rarely run away with a favoured lover.
So again, Mr. Leslie, who was intimately acquainted with the Kafirs,
says, it is a mistake to imagine that a girl is sold by her father in
the same manner, and with the same authority, with which he would
dispose of a cow. Amongst the degraded Bushmen of S. Africa, when a
girl has grown up to womanhood without having been betrothed, which,
however, does not often happen, her lover must gain her approbation, as
well as that of the parents. (20. Azara, Voyages, etc., tom. ii. p.
23. Dobrizhoffer, An Account of the Abipones, vol. ii. 1822, p. 207.
Capt. Musters, in Proc. R. Geograph. Soc. vol. xv. p. 47. Williams on
the Fiji Islanders, as quoted by Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation,
1870, p. 79. On the Fuegians, King and Fitzroy, Voyages of the
Adventure and Beagle, vol. ii. 1839, p. 182. On the Kalmucks,
quoted by M Lennan, Primitive Marriage, 1865, p. 32. On the Malays,
Lubbock, ibid. p. 76. The Rev. J. Shooter, On the Kafirs of Natal,
1857, pp. 52-60. Mr. D. Leslie, Kafir Character and Customs, 1871, p.
4. On the Bush-men, Burchell, Travels in S. Africa, ii. 1824, p. 59.
On the Koraks by McKennan, as quoted by Mr. Wake, in Anthropologia,
Oct. 1873, p. 75.) Mr. Winwood Reade made inquiries for me with respect
to the negroes of Western Africa, and he informs me that the women, at
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