CH. VII.] 



Bornean Courtship. 



147 



A Bornean youth may enter the house of his loved one's 

 parents and awaken her if she be really sleeping, to sit 

 and talk with him in the dark, or to eat betel-nut and 

 the finest of sirih-leaves from his garden. A similar 

 ■custom, so far as nocturnal visits are concerned, formerly 



existed in the country districts of Scotland. It is but 

 seldom that immorality results from this custom in 

 1 '.iiiieo, even according to European ideas on the subject, 

 and the parents think no more of putting a stop to these 

 nightly meetings than do those of our own fair daughters 

 in the case of the "morning call" of an eligible suitor at 

 home. There was a grand wedding at the capital during 

 one of my visits there, the bride being a relation of his 

 Highness the Sultan. There was a grand procession of 



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