little ceremony, but nevertheless deliberately and properly adjusted. The description of such customs, &c., pertaining to court-ship, betrothal, marriage, divorce, and other matters as will hereinafter be described has been obtained entirely from members of the Tuhoe Tribe of Maoris, who have inhabited for centuries the rugged district situated between the Bay of Plenty and Te Wairoa, on the East Coast. This article does not assume to be a description, or even a compendium, of the marriage customs of all the native tribes of New Zealand. Differences in customs, &c., are sure to be found as between different tribes. The system of ethology, or code of ethics, of the Maori in former times was suited to a communistic and primitive people, and, like their religion, was more closely adhered to and upheld than the systems. moral and religious, of many more-advanced peoples. To marry any one of closer kinship than a third cousin was deemed incest, and great exception was taken to such unions. They were severely condemned. In order to understand the following notes on the Maori marriage system it is necessary to have a clear idea of the tribal organization of these people, and their system of consanguinity. The natives of New Zealand base their tribal organization on their descent from the last and most important migration of Polynesians from the isles of the Pacific, although they are also descended from the ancient tribes of the land, a prior migration of a similar ethnic people. This latter origin is, however, not much heard of, as the mana (power, prestige, &c.) of the old-time people passed away and was replaced by that of the descendants of the last migration, which arrived at New Zealand about the middle of the fourteenth century. Thus, the Tuhoe Tribe, although principally of aboriginal blood (of the earlier migration), have long discarded their ancient and more applicable tribal name of Nga-Potiki for that of Tuhoe-potiki, who was a chief of the descendants of the latter migration. The collection or group of peoples, termed iwi (tribes) by the natives, are subdivided into hapu (sub-tribes or clans), and these again into sub-hapu or family groups (also termed hapu). Edward Jenks, in his “History of Politics,” says that the tribe “is a large group, consisting of several hundred individuals, the fully qualified among whom certainly believe themselves to be descended from a common male ancestor…. But in most cases the common ancestor of the tribe is a fictitious person,” &c. The other social unit he