Of the courtship in some of the New South Wales tribes we have an account by J. Turnbull: "When a young man sees a female to his fancy, he informs her she must accompany him home; the lady refuses; he not only enforces compliance with threats, but blows: thus the gallant, according to the custom, never fails to gain the victory, and bears off the willing though struggling pugilist."[68] In the following context the author asserts that violence is here a mere formality. It is difficult to say anything definite about this statement. If it refers merely to the final marriage "ceremony" it might be accepted. But if it is to be accepted as describing all that refers to marriage, it is obviously false. The author was a "circumnavigator," and in his voyage round the world, about the year 1800, had probably little opportunities for observing the Australian aborigines. Such statements as this, uncritically accepted (as this is, _e. g._ in Waitz-Gerland), are usual sources of error in ethnology and hence in sociology. [68] Turnbull, pp. 98, 99. In some other New South Wales tribes "the ceremony of marriage is peculiar. In most cases the parties are betrothed at an early age, and as soon as they arrive at the proper age, the young man claims his 'gin' or wife."[69] "The women are considered as an article of property, and are sold or given away by the parents or relatives without the least regard to their own wishes."[70] The well-known elements of infant betrothal, and a kind of purchase of a female from her family, are contained in this statement. [69] Wilkes (smaller edition), i. p. 225. [70] _Ibid._ According to another author, who has written about the New South Wales tribes, the girls are given away at a corroboree. Sometimes they are "stolen," but then fights always ensue.[71] This statement contains the feature of publicity of marriage. It does not say anything about the conditions preceding such a public allotment. [71] Hodgkinson, _loc. cit._, pp. 229, 230. According to Tench, capture was the prevalent form in which marriage was brought about in the Port Jackson tribes.[72] Tench was in very early times at the settlement, but being a military man and making only a short stay, he hardly had very good opportunities of observing the natives. His statement cannot outweigh all the contrary ones. [72] _Loc. cit._, p. 199. The statement of Barrington, who says that among the Port Jackson natives blows are the usual mode of courtship and that they are well accepted as a token of tenderness,[73] can only be understood if we accept these facts as a kind of pretended marriage by capture. But much importance cannot be attached to it. [73] _Loc. cit._, p. 168.