While ferocity, cruelty, habitual wantonness and general coarseness
are fatal obstacles to sentimental love, they may be accompanied, as
we have seen, by the violent sensual infatuation which is so often
mistaken for love. Unsuccessful Tahitian suitors have been known to
commit suicide under the influence of revenge and despair, as is
stated by Ellis (I., 209), who also notes two instances of violent
individual preference.
The chief of Eimeo, twenty years old, of a mild disposition, became
attached to a Huahine girl and tendered proposals of marriage. She was
a niece of the principal roatira in the island, but though her family
was willing, she declined all his proposals. He discontinued his
ordinary occupations, and repaired to the habitation of the individual
whose favor he was so anxious to obtain. Here he appeared subject to
the deepest melancholy, and from morning to night, day after day, he
attended his mistress, performing humiliating offices with apparent
satisfaction. His disappointment finally became the topic of general
conversation. At length the girl was induced to accept him. They were
publicly married and lived very comfortably together for a few months,
when the wife died.
In the other instance the girl was the lover and the man unwilling. A
belle of Huahine became exceedingly fond of the society of a young man
who was temporarily staying on the island and living in the same
house. It was soon intimated to him that she wished to become his
companion for life. The intimation, however, was disregarded by the
young man, who expressed his intention to prosecute his voyage. The
young woman became unhappy, and made no secret of the cause of her
distress. She was assiduous in redoubling her efforts to please the
individual whose affection she was desirous to retain. At this period
Ellis never saw him either in the house of his friend or walking
abroad without the young woman by his side. Finding the object of her
attachment, who was probably about eighteen years of age, unmoved by
her attentions, she not only became exceedingly unhappy, but declared
that if she continued to receive the same indifference and neglect,
she would either strangle or drown herself. Her friends now
interfered, using their endeavors with the young man. He relented,
returned the attentions he had received, and the two were married.
Their happiness, however, was of short duration. The attachment which
had been so ardent in the bosom of the young woman before marriage was
superseded by a dislike as powerful, and though he seemed not unkind
to her, she not only treated him with insult but finally left him.
"The marriage tie," says Ellis (I., 213),
"was probably one of the weakest and most brittle that
existed among them; neither party felt themselves bound to
abide by it any longer than it suited their convenience. The
slightest cause was often sufficient to occasion or justify
the separation."