GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AND ZANZIBAR 



The priests dress like Europeans usually, but all 

 in white, even to their turban ; at the wedding, how- 

 ever, they wore the same long coat as the other 

 men, but they could be distinguished by their white 

 turbans. It apparently was not correct for us to 

 speak to the bridegroom ; he sat solemnly nursing a 

 stiff bunch of flowers, tightly tied up, and a cocoa- 

 nut, with red lines down his forehead like red 

 wrinkles. He did not speak till some of the ladies 

 smeared his forehead with something, and threw 

 rice over him ; and later, standing in the doorway, 

 they broke eggs, apparently on his forehead, which 

 they then threw down in the doorway of the room 

 where we were to enter to see the wedding cere- 

 mony. I could not help hoping for his sake they 

 were quite fresh, and also that people would not 

 drag their dresses unknowingly over them. 



We Europeans were told to sit in front, 

 which did not seem right to me, as the Parsi lady- 

 guests sat at the side by the wall. The bridegroom 

 took his place in a big chair facing us, then the 

 bride appeared and stepped on to the platform, and 

 sat also in a big and handsome chair facing her 

 future husband, and back to us. She was not pretty, 

 but dressed in a very nice white silk " sari ". She 

 also carried a cocoanut — a sign of plenty, I believe — 

 and had also red lines on her forehead, which custom 

 is borrowed from the Hindus and denotes happi- 

 ness. The two fathers then held a curtain, the 



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