Turning now to the other, the _violent form_ of obtaining wives, we may distinguish the _elopement_, when both sides are consenting, and _capture_ where the woman is secured by a mere act of brutal force. These latter forms occur, but they are by no means frequent. They are mentioned by several writers (Hodgson, Rusden, Turnbull, Tench, Barrington and Collins); and by the two latter as the only form of marriage. That this is obviously incorrect was mentioned above in connection with their statements. It is characteristic that all statements reporting the prevalence of marriage by capture refer to New South Wales, and more especially to the neighbourhood of Sydney. But I think that it would be inadvisable to attribute this to a local peculiarity of those tribes. It appears more probable that as all those reports date from the early days of the settlement, and were written nearly at the same time, their opinions cannot be considered as independent, and they are probably repetitions of the same erroneous view which may be assumed to have been held by the general public in the settlement. This is confirmed by the following comparison of two statements. The first, that of Collins, stating the existence of a crude form of marriage by capture runs thus: "These unfortunate victims [the wives] of lust and cruelty ... are, it is believed, always selected from the women of a different tribe from that of the males (for they ought not to be dignified with the title of men), and with whom they are at enmity.... The poor wretch is stolen upon in the absence of her protectors. Being first stupefied with blows, inflicted with clubs or wooden swords, on the head, back and shoulders, every one of which is followed by a stream of blood, she is then dragged away through the woods by one arm, with a perseverance and violence that it might be supposed would displace it from its sockets." In this manner the woman is said to be dragged to the man's camp, where "a scene ensues too shocking to relate."[144] The second statement made by one of Howitt's reliable correspondents, depicts the state of things with quite different colours: "When a young man has passed a certain number of Boras (initiations) he has a right to choose a wife from among the unmarried and otherwise unappropriated women of the tribe who are of the class permitted to him by the native laws. He claims the girl in the presence of her parents by saying 'I will come and take you by and by,' and they cannot refuse her to him unless he be specially disqualified--as, for instance, if his 'hands are stained with the blood of any of her kin.' And even in that case he may carry her off by force if he can in spite of their refusal. For this purpose he generally comes by stealth and alone. But if he be a very bold warrior, he sometimes goes openly to the girl's camp and carries her off, defying the bravest of her friends to meet him in single combat if they