334 December 174$. 



lowed to marry a negro with one of European ex-* 

 traftion, or he muft pay a penalty of one 

 dred pounds, according to thp laws 

 vania. 



THERE is a very peculiar diverting cuftom 

 here, in regard to marrying. When a man dies, 

 and leaves his widow in great poverty, or fo that 

 fhe cannot pay all the debts with what little (he 

 has left ; and that, notwithftanding all that, there 

 is a perfon who will marry her, {he muft be mar- 

 ried in no other habit than her fhift. By that 

 means, (he leaves to the creditors of her deceafed 

 hufband her cloaths, and every thing which they 

 find in the houfe. But flic is not obliged to pay 

 them any thing more, becaufe fhe has left them 

 all fhe was worth, even her cloaths, keeping 

 only a fhift to cover her, which the laws of the 

 country cannot refufe her. As foon as fhe is 

 married, and no longer belongs to the deceafed 

 hufband, fhe puts on the <cloaths which the fe- 

 cond has given her. The Swedifo clergymen 

 here have often been obliged to marry a woman 

 in a drefs which is fo little expenfive, and fo 

 light. This appears from the regifters kept ir* 

 the churches, and from the accounts given by 

 the clergymen themfelves, I have likewife often 

 feen accounts of fuch marriages in the Englljh 

 gazettes, which are printed in thefe colonies; 

 and I particularly remember the following rela-? 

 tion : A woman went, with no other drels thaa 

 her fhift, out of the houfe of her deceafed huf- 

 band to that of her bridegroom, who met her 

 half way with fine new cloaths, and faid, before 

 }1 whp were prefent, that he lent them his 



bride | 



