156 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



On the following week another royal wedding took 

 place, the bridegroom on this occasion being ' Unku 

 Salaman,' a nephew of the Sultan. Although not so 

 much gorgeous display was exhibited, this ceremony 

 was exceedingly interesting. The bridegroom was an 

 hour and three-quarters late, and consequently we were 

 all kept waiting. On his arrival he told us his bride's 

 brother, whose consent as her guardian was indispen- 

 sable, was missing', and he was eventually discovered 

 in the middle of a game of billiards some half a mile 

 away. I afterwards learned from another member of 

 the royal family that the real reason of the bride- 

 groom's absence was accounted for from the fact that 

 he had fallen asleep on the veranda of his own house. 



The long delay was, in a way, a greater punishment 

 to me, inasmuch as I was obliged to sit in Eastern 

 fashion until my legs became very numbed and painful. 



When he did, however, arrive, he was accompanied 

 by the judge of his district, sword-bearers, and eight 

 female attendants, who chanted Malay melodies 

 throughout the whole proceedings. 



This wedding materially differed from the more im- 

 posing ceremony of the Crown Prince, inasmuch as it 

 was completed in three days. 



After the high priest had pronounced his benedic- 

 tion, the bridegroom was led behind a screen at the 

 end of the room, and there, before twenty girls, whom 

 I perceived squatting on the floor, changed his dress 

 to one literally ablaze with gold and diamonds, from 

 the wonderful ornament on his head to the bejewelled 

 slippers on his feet. After having received our indi- 

 vidual congratulations he repaired to the Istana Zahrah, 

 where we followed him, and found all the doors barred 



