are broken; and if the parents give the girl to someone else, the latter is sure to have to undergo a struggle with the former fiancé.[96] All this holds good also in respect to the Northern Central tribes.[97] There, too, "as a general rule women are obtained quite peacefully by the system of betrothal."[98] [84] Spencer and Gillen, _Nat. Tr._, chap. xvii, _Methods of obtaining Wives_, pp. 554 _sqq._ Compare also _Nor. Tr._, pp. 32 and 33. [85] Compare also the detailed description of charming by magic (different methods) given by J. Gillen in _Proc. R.G.S.S.A._, iv. pp. 25 _sqq._ [86] No other man of the party having any access to her. _Nat. Tr._, p. 556. [87] _Nat. Tr._, p. 555. The story related in this place is given by the author as an illustration of a general custom. [88] _Nat. Tr._, pp. 556, 557. The story told, pp. 557, 558, where both the eloped woman and her actual husband have an ordeal to submit to from the former husband. After having renounced her in this way she became the property of the man with whom she had eloped. [89] _Ibid._, p. 558. [90] Who is often of the very same age as he, pp. 558, 559. [91] _Ibid._, p. 559. [92] _Ibid._, 554. As also _Nor. Tr._, p. 33. [93] _Ibid._, p. 559. [94] _Nat. Tr._, p. 559. [95] _Ibid._, p. 555. [96] _Ibid._, p. 560. [97] _Nor. Tr._, p. 77. [98] _Ibid._, p. 33. Among all the tribes, described by Spencer and Gillen, there seem to be some marriage ceremonies.[99] In their first work (_Nat. Tr._) these authors describe such ceremonies among nine tribes.[100] In the main these ceremonies consisted of a ritual defloration of the girl by men standing to her in a definite relationship. In each case the girl had to submit to sexual intercourse with a series of men standing to her also in a definite relationship. Men of forbidden degrees have on these occasions access to women. The girl was afterwards painted and decorated and handed over to her husband, to whom she was allotted.[101] In the _Northern Tribes_ there is also a detailed description of this ceremony among the Warramunga,[102] where the husband keeps abstinence for three days after marriage. Among the Binbinga, Anula and Mara tribes the ritual defloration seems not to be a marriage ceremony, _i. e._ seems not to be connected with the handing over of the girl to her allotted husband.[103] Messrs. Spencer and Gillen state the existence of this ceremony among sixteen tribes. It is to be noted that these ceremonies do not seem to express any special sanction of the marriage to which they lead, unless they are viewed as "expiation for marriage."[104] Then they might be interpreted as the renouncement of all men's rights and claims to a woman for the benefit of her future owner. The ceremonial handing