tribe.  One of the practical workings of this influence of the older men is to throw restraints about the young men and obstruct their activities.  This obstruction is seen quite as clearly on the food side as on the side of sex, in the fact that the old men make certain foods which are not abundant (notably the kangaroo and the opossum) taboo to the young men and the women, and thus reserve these delicacies for themselves.  We have already seen, however, that the tribe usually makes some kind of a tardy sexual provision for its male members, and we shall presently examine this question more in detail; but the fact remains that the desires of the young men are not adequately or promptly provided for.  They may never get a wife in the usual course of things, or they may have to delay marriage for a period of twenty years beyond the point of maturity.  Under these conditions it is to be expected that the young men should sometimes attempt to obtain women in spite of existing obstructions; and this is the real significance of elopement.  It is, of course, true that married men sometimes eloped with married women, as with us; but in some of the Australian tribes the difficulties in the way of marriage were so great that elopement was recognized as the only way out: 

The young Kurnai could, as a rule, acquire a wife in one way only.  He must run away with her.  Native marriage might be brought about in various ways.  If the young man was so fortunate as to have an unmarried sister and to have a friend who also had an unmarried sister they might arrange with the girls to run off together or he might make his arrangements with some eligible girl whom he fancied and who fancied him; or a girl, if she fancied some young man might send him a secret message asking, “Will you find me some food?” and this was understood to be a proposal.  But in every case it was essential for success that the parents of the bride should be utterly ignorant of what was about to transpire.[224]

Fison[225] is of the opinion that elopement in this case is caused by the monopoly of women in the tribe by the older men.  Even when the assent of the parents has been secured, or when the match has been arranged by the parents of the young people, it is in some cases necessary to elope because of the reluctance of the men in general to have a young woman appropriated: 

If the woman was caught her female relatives gave her a good beating.  Fights took place over these cases between the girl’s relatives—­both male and female—­and those of the man.  The women were generally the most excited; they would stir up the men and then assist with their yamsticks.  If the girl was first caught by other than her own relatives, she would be abused by all the men; but this never occurred when her parents or brothers were present to protect her.[226]

When we consider the difficulties in the way of young men in getting wives at home, we should expect that