his wives observing that he had women enough already. This irritated the chief so much, that he fell upon the poor creature, and bruised her so excessively, that, after lingering some time, she escaped from his tyranny, and died.

Mr. Hearne, speaking generally of the Northern female Indians, says, though jealousy is a general passion among the men, marriages are contracted and dissolved with little ceremony. Young women have no choice of their own. They are matched to any man best able to maintain them, and, when children, are betrothed to men grown up, who, in case of their father's death, immediately provide for them. From eight years old to nine, girls are strictly watched, and closely confined to domestic duties; but the parents set no bounds to the freedom of their conversation before their children. A divorce consists here in nothing but a good drubbing, and turning the woman out of doors.

In NEW ENGLAND, the criminal law is as severe as that of the mother country. Divorces are authorized in cases of adultery, or too near consanguinity. If a man and his wife have been parted seven years beyond sea, or if one or

the other of them go upon a voyage of three years' duration, and there is reason to presume one or the other is dead, upon satisfactory evidence before a magistrate, a dissolution of the marriage takes place. Adultery was punished with death till the year 1784, but now it is changed to a public whipping, and branding with a red hot iron in the forehead.

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The picture which M. Du Lac draws of the inhabitants of the United States is but little to their credit. The men are litigious, suspicious, and will not even trust their wives to go to market. Every day," says this author, convinces me that the women have fewer faults than the men. Balls, plays, promenades, and the toilet, entirely occupy their attention. If a young man becomes captivated with a lady, before he thinks of marrying her, he must provide her with every pleasure, and be accessary to all her whims. I have heard several American ladies answer to the most sincere declarations of affection, and to the most advantageous proposals of marriage, that they had not yet had time to know the world and its amusements, and that they would not retire without having enjoyed them." The young women are free when single,

but slaves when married. They seldom then go › out but to visit their relatives or to church, and are very much limited in their expences at home. Female Every lady suckles her own child. beauty here is of short duration, and there are few countries where the women have worse teeth than in the United States.

SOUTH-SEA ISLANDS.

THERE does not appear to be any regular institution of marriage in these numerous and extensive islands; nevertheless, among that indifference which every where else prevails, they designate one female as their wife; but among the lower orders these ties are so easily loosened, that they can scarcely be said to bind the parties. Some account of them, however, may not be uninteresting, as their simplicity is very conspicuous.

Captain Wilson, who commanded the Duff, on the Missionary voyage, says, "We found it very difficult to work up the bay, (Resolution Bay,) by reason of the heavy gusts of wind from the mountains. Though it was now dark,

two females swam off, in hopes, no doubt, of a favourable reception; but finding they could not be admitted, they kept swimming about the ship for near half an hour, calling out, in a pitiful tone, Waheine! Waheine! that is, Women! or, We are women! They then returned to the shore in the same manner as they came: our two pilots also followed them, but not till they had used all their arguments for the captain to allow them to sleep in the ship; and but for the sake of precedent, their request would have been granted, as a reward for the implicit confidence they placed in us.

"Our first visitors from the shore came early; they were seven beautiful young women, swimming quite naked, except a few green leaves tied round their middle: they kept playing round the ship for three hours, calling Waheine! until several of the native men had got on board; one of whom, being the chief of the island, requested that his sister might be taken on board, which was complied with: she was of a fair complexion, inclining to a healthy yellow, with a tint of red in her cheeks, was rather stout, but poɛsessing such symmetry of features, as did all her companions, that, as models for the statuary

and painter, their equals can seldom be found. Our Otaheitean girl, who was tolerably fair, and had a comely person, was notwithstanding greatly eclipsed by these women, and, I believe, felt her inferiority in no small degree; however, she was superior in the amiableness of her manners, and possessed more of the softness and tender feelings of the sex: she was ashamed to see a woman upon the deck quite naked, and supplied her with a complete dress of new Otaheitean cloth, which set her off to great advantage, and encouraged those in the water, whose numbers were now greatly increased, to importune for admission; and out of pity to them, as we saw they would not return, we took them on board; but they were in a measure disappointed, for they could not all succeed so well as the first in getting clothed; nor did our mischievous goats even suffer them to keep their green leaves, but, as they turned to avoid them, they were attacked on each side alternately, and completely stripped naked.

"The natives crowded so much on board the following day, that with difficulty we carried on our work at the rigging; the females were more numerous, and all in the same natural state as