“took up stones and beat themselves until their heads were bruised and bleeding.  The ceremony to prove her virginity which preceded this burst of feeling will not bear the light of description....  Night dances and the attendant immoralities wound up the ceremonies.”

The same obscene ceremonies, he adds, were gone through, and this custom, he thinks, had some influence in cultivating chastity, especially among young women of rank who feared the disgrace and beating that was the lot of faithless brides.  Presents were also given to those who had preserved their virtue; but the result of these efforts is thus summed up by Turner (91): 

“Chastity was ostensibly cultivated by both sexes; but it was more a name than a reality.  From their childhood their ears were familiar with the most obscene conversation; and as a whole family, to some extent, herded together, immorality was the natural and prevalent consequence.  There were exceptions, especially among the daughters of persons of rank; but they were the exceptions, not the rule.  Adultery, too, was sadly prevalent, although often severely punished by private revenge.”

When a chief took a wife, the bride’s uncle or other relative had to give up a daughter at the same time to be his concubine; to refuse this, would have been to displease the household god.  A girl’s consent was a matter of secondary importance:  “She had to agree if her parents were in favor of the match.”  Many marriages were made chiefly for the sake of the attendant festivities, the bride being compelled to go whether or not she was willing.  In this way a chief might in a short time get together a harem of a dozen wives; but most of them remained with him only a short time: 

“If the marriages had been contracted merely for the sake of the property and festivities of the occasion, the wife was not likely to be more than a few days or weeks with her husband.”

COURTSHIP PANTOMIME

Elopements occur in Samoa in some cases where parental consent is refused.  A vivid description of the pantomimic courtship preceding an elopement has been given by Kubary (Globus, 1885).  A young warrior is surrounded by a bevy of girls.  Though unarmed, he makes various gestures as if spearing or clubbing an enemy, for which the girls cheer him.

He then selects one, who at first seems coyly unwilling, and begins a dance with her.  She endeavors to look indifferent and forbidding, while he, with longing looks and words, tries to win her regard.  Presently, yielding to his solicitations, she smiles, and opens her arms for him.  But he, foolishly, stops to reproach her for holding him off so long.  He shakes his head, rolls his eyes, and lo! when he gets ready to grasp her at last, she eludes him again, with a mocking laugh.