RISE OF FATHERRIGHT 47 



The Chingpaw of Upper Burmah are divided into 

 patrilineal exogamic kins. On marriage a bride-price 

 is paid, which is regarded as a compensation to the 

 bride's parents for the loss of her labour. It is often 

 considerable, and if the suitor be unable to pay it 

 he may work it out. In this way he becomes a 

 dependent of his bride's family for a longer or shorter 

 period. As no marriage takes place without previous 

 intercourse, presumably while living in this condition 

 the bridegroom has access to the bride, if not actually 

 married. The completion of his period of service 

 enables him to take away his wife and children to 

 his own village. 1 In Cambodia the negotiations for 

 marriage are conducted by the relatives of the young 

 couple ; and often the latter have not exchanged 

 a word until after their betrothal. The girl's parents 

 then make a formal request that their intended son-in- 

 law shall come to the house to serve for awhile. The 

 period of service is in fact a period of probation 

 in which it is the youth's business to render himself 

 agreeable to the young lady as well as to her parents. 

 On the day appointed he accordingly comes and 

 remains under their roof for an indeterminate period, 

 sometimes longer sometimes shorter, at their orders. 

 It is the duty of his betrothed to prepare his food and 



her first confinement should take place, is probably a survival from 

 the time when she continued notwithstanding marriage to live in the 

 parental home (Mateer, 106). 



1 Int. Arch. Suppl. xvi. 26 sqq. Off the coast of Tenasserim the 

 Mergui islanders live in boats. The population of each boat is a 

 patriarchal community. After marriage the bridegroom is taken into 

 his father-in-law's boat until he can manage to get a boat of his own 

 (Globus, xcii. 290). This seems to be merely a temporary con- 

 venience for the husband ; but that the residence in such a case 

 should always be with the wife's parents is not without significance. 



