SURVIVALS FROM MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE. 217 



form is found in North Friesland, where a young man, called the 

 bride-lifter, lifts the bride upon the wagon in which the married 

 couple are to travel to their house. The last stage is reached in 

 the form seen by Denham at Sockna, North Africa. The bride 

 is taken on a camel to the bridegroom's house, and, upon arriving 

 there, " it is necessary for her to appear greatly surprised, and 

 refuse to dismount ; the women scream, the men shout, and she is 

 at length persuaded to enter." * 



Finally, an affectation of grief on the part of the bride is the 

 sole demonstration of a feigned compulsion. Such a case was 

 witnessed by Mrs. Atkinson, in Siberia, f It is there the custom 

 for the bride to be taken to the bath on the eve of her wedding- 

 day by her young companions, and in this case the road to the 

 bath led past the house where Mrs. Atkinson was stopping. 

 Startled by most heart-rending sobs, that lady hastened to the 

 gate and found a bride being supported by her young friends to 

 the bath. She thought it was a case in which a girl had been 

 forced to accept an unwelcome suitor, and was filled with com- 

 passion. When the girl returned from the bath she was still sob- 

 bing and quite bowed down with grief. An hour or two later, 

 Mrs. Atkinson went to the bride's cottage and found the damsel 

 eating supper, her face radiant with joy. She asked if she had 

 done it well, and Mrs. Atkinson then learned, to her great surprise, 

 that the weeping was part of the ceremony. 



We now come to that form of survival which has been termed 

 "bride-racing," and which we have placed under subhead (c). 

 The least disintegrated variety of this form of capture is that in 

 which there is a bona fide chase, out of doors, and which does not 

 always end in favor of the lover. 



We find this form among the Calmucks, with whom, says Dr. 

 Clarke, the ceremony of marriage is performed on horseback. 

 " A girl is first mounted, who rides off in full speed. Her lover 

 pursues ; if he overtakes her she becomes his wife, and the mar- 

 riage is consummated on the spot ; after this she returns with him 

 to his tent. But it sometimes happens that the woman does not 

 wish to marry the person by whom she is pursued ; in this case she 

 will not suffer him to overtake her. We were assured that no in- 

 stance occurs of a Calmuck girl being thus caught, unless she have 

 a partiality to the pursuer." J This is slightly varied among the 

 Kirghiz, the young woman, who is pursued by all her suitors, 

 being armed with a formidable whip, which she does not hesitate 

 to use if overtaken by a lover who is disagreeable to her. Among 

 the Turkomans the bride carries in her lap the carcass of a sheep 

 or goat, which the pursuer has to snatch from her. The Malays, 



* Travels in Africa, vol. i, p. 39. \ Tartar Steppes, pp. 218, 219. % Vol. i, p. 433. 



