IN SUMATRA. 151 



lent. The Government has now enacted that all marriages 

 shall be without let or consi<leration, between *^him who will 

 with her who will," but tlie system of djudjur (or jirice to 

 be paid for a wife), sanctified by generations of custom, it 

 is almost impossible to prevent, as when a fair sum is not 

 paid, the giiTs father can always raise insurmountable diffi- 

 culties, so that, in fiict, the djudjur is almost invariably pai<l, 

 and is in amount according to the status of the youtli, and 

 of the parents of the bride. When this has been {suh rosa, of 

 course) satisfactorily arranged, the jmrents of the youth and 

 of the girl must appear before the chief of the village (if they 

 belong to the same village, or to both ehiofs if the parties 

 belong to different villages) to give oflicial information that 

 their children wish to marry. This is the Jcatrangan (tranr/y is 

 clear) of the affair ; it is, in fact, the publication of tlie banns. 

 After this has taken place, it is legal for the parents to receive 

 a small fixed gift (marriage gold, as it is called), but any 

 demand for a greater sum is penal. 



The system of djudjur has acted, and still acts, very detri- 

 mentally on the population, for, as a rule, the sum demanded 

 by a father for his daughter's hand is so great that many 



young men cannot afTonl to marry ; and as children born out of 

 wedlock are from of old considered to be a stigma on the village, 

 the people have increased but little in number. Of course if a 

 youth should complain to the magistrate that he cannot marry 

 the girl of his choice on account of the large sum demanded 

 by her father, the magistrate would at once interfere ; but it is 

 very rare that any complaint is made, the youth preferring to 

 pay the djndjur, beaten down to the lowest figure possible. 



If, however, the youth chooses he may marry the girl in the 

 manner known as "ambil anak " (literally, "taking a child"), 

 in which case the father of the girl receives the husband into 

 his house as one of his children, bound to labour in her place, 

 for him absolutely. ' 



In eftect, by this form of marriage, the huribaud becomes the 

 slave of his wife ; he is bound to do all that she may demand, 

 and, should he rue his bargain and obtain a divorce, the 

 children of the union remain with her, and he goes out as he 

 came into the house — portionless. Ii always remains open to 

 him, however, should he fall heir to any property, to pay the 



