Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca mentions bride price and bride service as part of a Karankawa marriage. While the bride price is assumed to be the generalized system in the Indigenous population found by Cabeza de Vaca where the groom gives presents to the parents of the girl he wishes to marry, to secure their permission, the bride service is based on a ritual where the husband must give every morsel of food he managed to collect or hunt to his wife. His wife then delivers the bounty to her parents and in return is given food to give back to her husband. This ritual goes on for an unknown number of months, but when it is concluded, the pair typically then engages in patrilocal residence. In terms of marriage, divorce is a common aspect typically only to marriages that have not created any children and is unlikely if children have been born from the marriage. Between the husband and wife, no signs of fondness, intimacy, or special treatment were observed. The Karankawa reacted strongly and sometimes violently to Europeans interfering in marital or familial affairs. The Karankawa were said to have great compassion and tenderness for their children. Mothers carried babies, not yet able to walk, on their backs, wrapped in a loop of animal hide. Appearance Physical character Many Europeans noted the sharp contrasts in appearance between Karankawa men and women. The women were described as plainer, shorter, and of stouter build than the men. The men were very tall, of strong athletic build, and had coarse, black hair. Most men wore their hair to the waist. Their foreheads were mostly low and broad, and the heads larger than most whites. The men, in contrast with the women, had lithe builds and slender hands and feet. Their skin color was said to be lighter and closer to cinnamon-colored than the women. Both men and women were noted for their spectacularly white teeth, even elders. Dress and ornamentation All Karankawa people practiced forehead flattening. They shaped the foreheads of babies by first with a piece of cloth, then a thin board, and then a wadded cloth. Each of these was tied to the head with a bandage and left to stay there about one year. The men wore a hide breechcloths, while the women wore deerhide skirts. They did not wear headcovers or shoes. Some women of the tribe