

SOCIAL CUSTOMS 13 



as erecting phoongie houses or building pagodas, and goes on 

 leading the same life as heretofore, content with a very little. 

 There is no selling of girls when infants for marriage, or 

 worse. The men prefer girls who are fully grown and 

 developed, and the young men and women carry on their 

 courtship openly. About eight o'clock in the evening is 

 courting-time, when the young ladies receive their bachelor 

 acquaintances, and a lamp placed in their casement is a signal 

 that they are at home. The great ambition of a girl is to 

 keep a stall in the market-place. It is her introduction into 

 society, and a sign that she is marriageable ; it is the equiva- 

 lent of our girls being presented at Court or taken to balls 

 and parties. There is a great deal of coquetry on the part of 

 the girl ; if she lights a cheroot, takes a puff or two and then 

 presents it to her adorer, it is a sign that "Barkis is willin"'; 

 otherwise, if she refuses to do this act of courtesy, he knows 

 that his attentions are not appreciated, and that he had better 

 seek a bride elsewhere. Parents do not unduly interfere in 

 these matrimonial ventures. Once the couple have agreed to 

 be man and wife there is no delay ; a feast is prepared, the 

 happy couple eat out of the same dish before the assembled 

 guests ; the bridegroom then presents his bride with hla-pet 

 or pickled tea ; the compliment is returned, and the ceremony 

 is over. Then follows the interminable poday, but the couple 

 manage to steal away and go to their home, and as soon 

 as this is discovered, the bridegroom's friends and others 

 assemble round his house, throw stones on the roof and at the 

 doors ; this is in accordance with the immemorial custom, but 

 a somewhat inconvenient one to the happy couple, who would 

 prefer their friends' absence to their company ; but if it were 

 omitted, doubtless they would afterwards think that a compli- 

 ment was wanting. 



A woman socially is her husband's equal ; his superior in 

 the house and in the interior economy, as she buys and sells 

 what she pleases. She has the sole right to any property she 

 possessed before marriage, and also to that acquired after- 

 wards. She can hold real property in her own right, and 

 even obtain legal possession of her husband's if he forsakes 

 her. 



