682 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The relatives on both sides assemble on board the girl's boat ; 

 there is a general feast, a great firing of fire-crackers, beating of tom- 

 toms and burning of joss-paper to frighten off evil spirits, the cup of 

 union is drunk together, the bride is taken to her new floating home 

 in a closed sedan of red and gold, and the ceremony is at an end. The 

 rice in the above case is emblematic of the support promised by the 

 man, the flowers of the happiness offered by the woman. 



Among the pure Chinese, and especially among the higher classes, 

 the affair is a much longer and more serious one. From the almost 

 Turkish strictness with which females are secluded, it is comparatively 

 rare that a couple see each other previous to betrothal, and still more 

 so that there should be any acquaintance between them. This has 

 given rise to the necessary employment of a character equivalent to 

 the bazvalan or marriage-broker of ancient Brittany, to Mr. Foy's 

 Parisian Matrimonial Agency Office, or the daily marriage advertise-' 

 ments of our own papers. If your wish is for marriage in the abstract, 

 the broker will find you a fitting partner first, and negotiate the trans- 

 fer after. If you are less purely philosophical, and wish to consult 

 your own tastes as well as the interests and increase of the nation, you 

 are only to name the party, and the broker becomes your accredited 

 embassador. There is, however, one preliminary point to be ascer- 

 tained. Has your intended the same surname as yourself? If so, it 

 is a fatal difficulty, as the laws of China would not permit the mar- 

 riage. If, however, she is Chun and you are Le, or she is Kwan or 

 Yu, and you rejoice in any other patronymic monosyllable, the next 

 step is for the broker to obtain from each a tablet containing the 

 name, age, date and hour of birth, etc. These are then taken to a 

 diviner and compared, to see if the union promises happiness ; if the 

 answer is favorable (and crossing the palm with silver is found to be 

 as effectual with fortune-tellers in China as it is elsewhere), and the 

 gates are equal, that is, if the station and wealth of the two families 

 are similar, the proposal is made in due form. The wedding-presents 

 are then sent, and, if accepted, the young couple is considered as le- 

 gally betrothed. A lucky day must next be fixed for the wedding, 

 and here our friend the diviner is again called upon. Previous to the 

 great day the bridegroom gets a new hat and takes a new name, while 

 the lady, whose hair has hitherto hung down to her heels in a single 

 heavy plait, at the same time becomes initiated into the style of hair- 

 dressing prevalent among Chinese married ladies, which consists in 

 twisting the hair into the form of an exaggerated tea-pot, and support- 

 ing it in that shape with a narrow plate of gold or jade over the fore- 

 head, and a whole system of bodkins behind it. On the wedding 

 morning, presents and congratulations are sent to the bridegroom, 

 and among the rest a pair of geese ; not sent, as we might imagine, 

 by some wicked wag or irreclaimable bachelor as a personal reflection 

 on the intellectual state of his friend, but as an emblem of domestic 



