Comorian marriage must strike anyone with even the most passing knowledge of the Islands as surprising. All men strive for the lavish, expensive and lengthy marriage form known as ndola nkuu (great marriage) or harusi ya ada (customary marriage) even though a perfectly respectable simple form, mna daho (little house), is all that moslem customary law requires. Mna daho marriages cost almost nothing: ada marriages may cost as much as £5000. Why invest such a large sum in this way? What, in plain anthropological language, are the functions of ada marriage?