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the bridegroom takes it, and hangs it about the bride's neck. This 

 knot is what particularly secures his possession of her: for, be- 

 fore he had put the tali on, all the rest of the ceremonies might 

 have been made to no purpose. But when once the tali is put 

 on, the marriage is indissoluble; and, whenever the husband dies, 

 the tali is burnt along with him, to shew that the marriage bands 

 are broken." It is this part of the ceremony to which Southey 

 alludes in the " Curse of Kehama," where Azla and Nealliny, the 

 two wives of Arvalan, are sacrificed on his funeral pile; the one 

 voluntarily, the other by compulsion. These stanzas contain an 

 animated description of the ceremony, from which I shall only 

 select that in which the tali, or marriage knot, is particularly 

 mentioned. 



Woe ! woe ! for A zla takes her seat 

 Upon the funeral pile I 

 Calmly she took her seat, 

 Calmly the whole terrific pomp survey'd} 



As on her lap the while 

 The lifeless head of Arvalan was laid j 

 Woe ! woe ! Nealliny, 

 The young Nealliny ! 

 They strip her ornaments away, 

 Bracelet and anklet, ring, and chain, and zone ; 

 Around her neck they leave 



The marriage knot alone ; 

 That marriage band, which when 

 Yon waning moon was young, 

 Around her virgin neck 

 With bridal joy was hung. 

 Then with white flowers, the coronal of death, 

 Her jetty locks they crown." 



