220 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



avoids all the inhabitants of the lady's camp, except a few inti- 

 mate friends, whom he is permitted to visit. A little tent is gen- 

 erally set up for him, under which he remains all day, and if he 

 is obliged to come out, or to cross the camp, he covers his face.* 



We now pass to the second group of survivals, namely, those 

 which follow the consummation of the marriage. Our first sub- 

 head of this group symbolizes an escape, or attempted escape, 

 from the husband. 



The least disintegrated example appears to be that which oc- 

 curs in Zululand, where custom requires that the bride should 

 make three attempts to run back to her old home, but the last 

 attempt, made on the second day, and after she has been installed 

 in her position as wife, is the only serious one. Should she suc- 

 ceed in escaping, the whole marriage ceremony has to be gone 

 through again, f 



The first modification of this is when the bride simply returns 

 to her parents' house for a certain time. There is no appearance 

 of flight, but there is a complete rupture of cohabitation. This 

 custom is found among the Ewe-speaking tribes of the Slave Coast 

 (West Africa), the wife, after a week's cohabitation with her hus- 

 band, returning to her old home for a week. In Chittagong, hus- 

 band and wife are on no account permitted to sleep together until 

 seven days after marriage. 



The next modification is where the bride returns to her former 

 home, but sees her husband by stealth. This form is observed by 

 some of the Turkoman tribes, the bride returning to her father's 

 house, " where, strange to say, she is retained for six months or a 

 year, and sometimes two years, according, as it appears, to her 

 caprice or the parents' will, having no communication with her 

 husband, unless by stealth." f According to Plutarch, the Spar- 

 tans had the same custom, and some husbands even had children 

 by their wives before they could see them otherwise than clandes- 

 tinely.* Among the Fijians husband and wife do not usually pass 

 the night together, except as it were by stealth ; and Lafitau says 

 the same of some of the North American Indians. In Crete it was 

 the custom for married people to see each other clandestinely for 

 some time after the wedding, and a similar custom is said to have 

 existed among the Lycians. 



A variation of these forms exists among the Arabs of the 

 Mezeyne tribe (Sinai Peninsula), where the bride runs away to 

 the mountains every evening, being followed by her husband, and 

 returns to her mother's tent every morning. This is done for sev- 

 eral days, after which she returns to her mother, and she does not 



* Travels to Timbuctoo, vol. i, p. 94. \ Eraser's Journey, loc. cit. 



f Leslie's Among the Zulus, pp. 116-11S. w Lycurgus, c. 15. 



