MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 151 



than the sum he originally paid her as her dowry. 

 If a native is in lack of money he often arranges to 

 sell his wife, and to this the woman generally agrees,, 

 for she knows she will be better treated by her pur- 

 chaser than by her poverty-stricken husband, who is 

 only anxious to get rid of her. Of the boys -who 

 Worked for us very few were married, though all had 

 had wives at one time or another and had sold them. 



When a native marries he is allowed to choose three 

 married women from his village, who are installed 

 in his house as concubines during the honeymoon. On 

 his arrival at his home he finds his wife and three 

 other women, each wrapped from head to foot in a 

 sheet, and he is required to guess which is his wife. 

 If he guesses wrong, he must pay a rupee to the woman 

 whom he has mistaken for his wife. 



In each village or district there is an old woman 

 whose business it is to instruct the girls of a marriage- 

 able age in their duties as wives and mothers. She 

 also teaches the girls to dance, and to walk with la 

 peculiar swagger that is supposed to be very seductive 

 in the eyes of the men. During their course of instruc- 

 tion the girls usually live in the old woman's hut. If 

 after marriage the husband considers that his wife has 

 failed in her duties he sends her again to the old 

 woman, who gives her further instruction, and some- 

 times emphasizes it with a stick. And if a wife has 

 any cause of complaint against her husband she often 

 consults the old woman, and generally receives good, 

 advice, for these old women are very successful in 

 composing conjugal disputes. They sometimes also 

 act as match -makers, but the employment of a match- 

 maker is not considered essential." 



