The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-05-02
Lc0e Among
the So0dgeS
BY Tighe Hopkins.

:
eral are the most violent lovers in the
world. If the young Englishman, or
the young white man anywhere in Gre
alton, had to face certain of the or
deals which the young barbarian must
submit to in seeking a maiden's hand,
it is probable that he would forswear
matrimony.
Many countries, many customs; and
singular and fearful are the customs
of courtship in some parts of the globe.
in Borneo, for instance, a nice present
from a youth to his sweetheart is a
collection of heads which he has sliced
off the shoulders of his enemies. Some
times he has to Stay a rhinoceros or
some other big brute in order to show
himself capable of defending his house
hold from any beast of the field; some
times he must bring the maiden great
offerings of game, to prove how well
he could support a family by the pro-
ceeds of the chase.
In savage countries the men are
more liable to be left without wives
than the women are to be left without
husbands; wheGce arises fierce spirit
of rivalry among the young unmarried
males. Often they fight for the wom-
en- of their choice, as the males of
most of the lower animals fight in GER
tain seasons for the females. The
most powerful combatant, or the
craftiest, or he who can endure with
out complaint the greatest number of
blows or cuts, wins the day-and the
lady. Wrestling was a very ancient
mode of deciding the claims of rival
lovers, and it is not unknown at this
day among the North American In
dams. The Slave Indians have a GU
rious practice of Selling one another
by their long hair and dragging until
one of the pair gives in. A pulling
match of a different kind is or was
common in remote parts of New Yea
land. \ girl having two suitors, and
mot knowing to which of them to give
the preference, placed herself between
them, and the girls arms were dragged
by each of the suitors in opposite di-
rections, the stronger man being the
victor.
A more formidable trial is for two
suitors to strip to their waists and
thrash each other with sticks, when
the first who sinks to the ground is in
variably rejected by the lady.
Duels of various kinds, from the
British set-to with fists up to the COM
bat with knives or bows and arrows,
are still undertaken in the interests of
love in sundry places of the earth
The Muras fight with their fists, some
of the Mexican tribes use the cold
steel, and at least one North American
tribe relies upon bow and arrow. The
people of Wadai, says DR.. Westermack
the great historian of marriage, ''are
notorious for their desperate fights
for women; and among the young men
of the Bagirmi bloody feuds between
rivals are far from being of rare occur
renee"
Among the Arabs of upper Egypt the
youth who proposes for a girl must
submit to a whipping at the hands OF
all her male relatives; and, says dry
narrator, ''if he wishes to be consid-
cred worth having, he must receive the
chaS isement, which is sometimes ex-
ceeGingly severe, with an expression
of Enjoyment"
Nc infrequently it is the maiden
herself who imposes the test. The
Saka.aya girls of Madagascar make
their lovers stand at short distance
from a clever spear thrower and catch
between the arm and side every weap-
onflung at them. If the youth ''displays
fear or fails to catch the spear, he is
ANONYMOUSLY rejected but if there
be no f1inching and the spears are
caught, he is at once proclaimed an
accepted lover"
Worse than this is the trial enforced
upon their suitors by the Dongolowee
girls. When in doubt as to the re-
spectiye merits of two rivals, the young
lady fastens sharply-pointed knife
to each elbow; then, seating herself
between her lovers. she drives the
blades slowly into their thighs; and
the hero who takes the greatest length
of steel without a murmur wins the
bride.
Maj. Mitchell, in his "Expeditions
Into the Interior of Eastern Austria
lia," says of the natives on the river
Darling that all their ideas of fighting
are associated with the possession of
gins or wives, and that after a battle
the wives ''do not always follow their
fugitive husbands from the field, but
frequently go over, as a matter of
course. to the victors."- "None but the
brave deserve the fair" is a maxim well
understood of most barbaric races.
1t is not only by feats of strength.
daring or endurance, or by triumphs
on the field of battle or the hunting
ground that the amorous savage seeks
to win himself wife He goes through
much trouble, and often through great
personal suffering, for the sake of i'm
proving his appearance in the ewes of
the sex. Savage maidens cherish va
rious ideals of masculine beauty: and
whatever these be, the young men must
conform to them. Certain Australian
women prefer their lovers with few
fFont teeth knocked out; hence. when
the young bucks are of an age to mar
ry, they promptly get rid of four front
teeth in the lower jaw. In other parts
of the country the ladies are satisfied
&c tbpir Ua1Iantc flo +bair +ao+L a. .