52 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



or branches, one of which the tali kulo, of five dollars, 

 is usually from motives of delicacy or friendship left 

 unpaid, and so long as that is the case a relationship is 

 understood to subsist between the two families, and 

 the parents of the woman have a right to interfere on 

 occasions of ill treatment ; the husband is also liable 

 for wounding her ; with other limitations of absolute 

 right. When that sum is finally paid, which seldom hap- 

 pens but in cases of violent quarrel, the tali kulo 

 (tie of relationship) is said to be putus (broken), 

 and the woman becomes to all intents the slave of her 

 lord. She has then no title to claim a divorce in any pre- 

 dicament ; and he may sell her, making only the first 

 offer to her relations." After mentioning the other 

 two "appendages," namely, the tulis tanggil (which he 

 cannot explain) and the upah daun kodo (payment for 

 the marriage feast), Marsden proceeds : " These 

 additional sums are seldom paid or claimed before the 

 principal is defrayed, of which a large proportion, as 

 fifty, eighty, and sometimes an hundred and four 

 dollars, is laid down at the time of marriage, or in the 

 first visit (after the parties are determined in their 

 regards) made by the father of the young man, or the 

 bujang himself, to the father of the woman. . . . 

 Until at least fifty dollars are thus deposited the man 

 cannot take his wife home ; but so long as the matter 

 continues dalam rasa-an (under consideration) it would 

 be deemed scandalous in the father to listen to any other 

 proposals. When there is a difficulty in producing the 

 necessary sum it is not uncommon to resort to an 

 expedient termed mengiringjujur" By this arrange- 

 ment the debtor becomes practically a slave, all his 

 labour being due to his creditor, without it seems any 



