70 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



lang, or " new man," looked quite fat and comfortable. 

 These early marriages in China do not seem to injure 

 the race : well-to-do persons, who indulge most in 

 them, and who frequently commit the sin of taking 

 second wives, are usually much superior in physique. 

 We asked to see the bride, but this was refused to 

 the strangers as not conformable to China custom. 

 I have frequently, however, met sedan-chairs carry- 

 ing the bride home to her husband, and had auricular 

 demonstration of their curious rule, that she should 

 weep and lament on the first half of the journey 

 that from her father's house; and that she should 

 laugh and rejoice on the half to her new home. An- 

 other custom is, that the marriage-chair is locked by 

 her father and mother, and the key is handed over to 

 one of the bridesmen, who gives it to the bridegroom 

 on reaching the house. After the poor lady is brought 

 into her husband's home, she has to undergo the 

 openly-expressed criticisms of his relatives, an oppor- 

 tunity of which the female portion sometimes make 

 cruel use. In addition to the tsai, or first wife, it is 

 legal for the man who can afford it to take four tsaieh, 

 or second wives. These subordinate wives are in the 

 position of half-wife, half-concubine. They cannot 

 be divorced at the husband's pleasure, and have legal 

 claims upon him for support ; but they are subject to 

 the first wife, and their children are considered to be 

 her children. This system works pretty well, and a 

 wife sometimes likes her husband to take second 



