{"id":"01KG8AM5Y4C8XG7ZJ7Z2R6N8FD","cid":"bafkreidculg44f52ndb7ovgihzby6ywl7ajmgaprxqsdbdgtguuq2mp2jm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8437,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8380,"text":"I was not able to learn what particular ceremony was observed in forming\r\nthe marriage contract, but am inclined to think that it must have been\r\nof a very simple nature. Perhaps the mere ‘popping the question’, as\r\nit is termed with us, might have been followed by an immediate nuptial\r\nalliance. At any rate, I have more than one reason to believe that\r\ntedious courtships are unknown in the valley of Typee.\r\n\r\nThe males considerably outnumber the females. This holds true of many\r\nof the islands of Polynesia, although the reverse of what is the case in\r\nmost civilized countries. The girls are first wooed and won, at a very\r\ntender age, by some stripling in the household in which they reside.\r\nThis, however, is a mere frolic of the affections, and no formal\r\nengagement is contracted. By the time this first love has a little\r\nsubsided, a second suitor presents himself, of graver years, and carries\r\nboth boy and girl away to his own habitation. This disinterested and\r\ngenerous-hearted fellow now weds the young couple--marrying damsel\r\nand lover at the same time--and all three thenceforth live together\r\nas harmoniously as so many turtles. I have heard of some men who in\r\ncivilized countries rashly marry large families with their wives, but\r\nhad no idea that there was any place where people married supplementary\r\nhusbands with them. Infidelity on either side is very rare. No man\r\nhas more than one wife, and no wife of mature years has less than two\r\nhusbands,--sometimes she has three, but such instances are not\r\nfrequent. The marriage tie, whatever it may be, does not appear to be\r\nindissoluble; for separations occasionally happen. These, however,\r\nwhen they do take place, produce no unhappiness, and are preceded by no\r\nbickerings; for the simple reason, that an ill-used wife or a henpecked\r\nhusband is not obliged to file a bill in Chancery to obtain a divorce.\r\nAs nothing stands in the way of a separation, the matrimonial yoke sits\r\neasily and lightly, and a Typee wife lives on very pleasant and sociable\r\nterms with her husband. On the whole, wedlock, as known among these\r\nTypees, seems to be of a more distinct and enduring nature than\r\nis usually the case with barbarous people. A baneful promiscuous\r\nintercourse of the sexes is hereby avoided, and virtue, without being\r\nclamorously invoked, is, as it were, unconsciously practised.\r\n\r\nThe contrast exhibited between the Marquesas and other islands of the\r\nPacific in this respect, is worthy of being noticed. At Tahiti the\r\nmarriage tie was altogether unknown; and the relation of husband\r\nand wife, father and son, could hardly be said to exist. The Arreory\r\nSociety--one of the most singular institutions that ever existed in any\r\npart of the world--spread universal licentiousness over the island. It\r\nwas the voluptuous character of these people which rendered the disease\r\nintroduced among them by De Bougainville’s ships, in 1768, doubly\r\ndestructive. It visited them like a plague, sweeping them off by\r\nhundreds.\r\n\r\nNotwithstanding the existence of wedlock among the Typees, the\r\nScriptural injunction to increase and multiply seems to be but\r\nindifferently attended to. I never saw any of those large families in\r\narithmetical or step-ladder progression which one often meets with at\r\nhome. I never knew of more than two youngsters living together in the\r\nsame home, and but seldom even that number. As for the women, it was\r\nvery plain that the anxieties of the nursery but seldom disturbed the\r\nserenity of their souls; and they were never seen going about the valley\r\nwith half a score of little ones tagging at their apron-strings, or\r\nrather at the bread-fruit-leaf they usually wore in the rear.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR25VD49M8PDP0DQV6HE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM5Y4C6NS3W93P8G4EW32","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KN0AYNH3Y4FV0ZDKC8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.612Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.069Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}