Among savages and barbarous races in various parts of the world it is the recognized custom, reversing the more usual method, for the girl to take the initiative in courtship. This is especially so in New Guinea. Here the girls almost invariably take the initiative, and in consequence hold a very independent position. Women are always regarded as the seducers: "Women steal men." A youth who proposed to a girl would be making himself ridiculous, would be called a woman, and be laughed at by the girls. The usual method by which a girl proposes is to send a present to the youth by a third party, following this up by repeated gifts of food; the young man sometimes waits a month or two, receiving presents all the time, in order to assure himself of the girl's constancy before decisively accepting her advances. (A.C. Haddon, _Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits_, vol. v, ch. viii; id., "Western Tribes of Torres Straits," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, vol. xix, February, 1890, pp. 314, 356, 394, 395, 411, 413; id., _Head Hunters_, pp. 158-164; R.E. Guise, "Tribes of the Wanigela River," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, new series, vol. i, February-May, 1899, p. 209.) Westermarck gives instances of races among whom the women take the initiative in courtship. (_History of Marriage_, p. 158; so also Finck, _Primitive Love and Love-stories_, 1899, p. 109 et seq.; and as regards Celtic women, see Rhys and Brynmor Jones, _The Welsh People_.)