212 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of Macassar have first a sham, fight outside the town, then a 

 feigned resistance at the gates, and afterward, from point to 

 point, a show of disputing the advance of the bridegroom and his 

 party, until they have made their way to the bride's house.* In 

 Abyssinia, the party of the bridegroom go through a sham fight 

 outside the bride's house, then enter it, and the bridegroom, tak- 

 ing the bride, hurries her out and hands her over to some of his 

 friends. Returning to the house again, he then takes part in the 

 deball, or war-dance, which is a simulated combat with guns, 

 spears, and swords, and in which the parties of the bridegroom and 

 bride are ranged on opposite sides.! " In New Zealand," says the 

 Rev. R. Taylor, J " even in the case when all were agreeable, it was 

 still customary for the bridegroom to go with a party, and appear 

 to take her away by force, her friends yielding her up after a 

 feigned struggle." In Berry, France, the house of the bride is bar- 

 ricaded, and a sham assault of it takes place. After some parley 

 the bridegroom's party is admitted, and a struggle for the posses- 

 sion of the hearth is then simulated. In Little Russia, in peasant 

 weddings, when the bride's tresses have been unplaited and the 

 cap is being put on her head, she is bound to resist with all her 

 might, and even to fling her cap angrily on the ground. Then 

 the groomsmen, at the cry of " Boyars to your swords ! " pretend to 

 seize their knives and make a dash at the bride, who is there- 

 upon surrounded by her friends, who come rushing as if to her 

 rescue.* 



It is interesting to note that this form survived among the 

 Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles until very recent times. 

 Lord Karnes describes it as it existed in his day among the 

 Welsh, as follows: "On the morning of the wedding-day the 

 bridegroom, accompanied by his friends on horseback, demands 

 the bride. Her friends, who are likewise on horseback, give a 

 positive refusal, on which a mock scuffle ensues. The bride, 

 mounted behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off, and is pur- 

 sued by the bridegroom and his friends with loud shouts. It is 

 not uncommon on such an occasion to see two or three hundred 

 sturdy Cambro-Britons riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, 

 to the no small amusement of the spectators. When they have 

 fatigued themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered 

 to overtake the bride. He leads her away in triumph, and the 

 scene is concluded with feasting and festivity." || Sir Henry Piers's 

 description of it, as observed by the Irish, is : " On the day of 

 bringing home, the bridegroom and his friends ride out and meet 



* Moore's Marriage Customs, p. 190. * Ralston's Songs of the Russian People, pp. 284, 285. 

 f Life in Abyssinia, p. 51. J History of Man, p. 449. 



J Te Ska Amani, p. 163. 



