CH. XI CUSTOMS OF THE MINAHAS8EBS 273 



no gossip in the village about their engagement until all is 

 settled. These visits extend over some weeks, and at last 

 one morning he remains until the day has broken as a sign 

 that the engagement may be formally announced (22). 



We find many references to this custom in many of the 

 mapalu love songs. Here are some of them : 



' Tuminting-o tare mej satengah polon-o-lah 

 Mange polon-na-mej sambe lumamo irojor.' 



' The clock has struck the half-hour ' (5.30 a.m. ?) ; ' she 

 wakes her friend that he may go down ' (before dayUght without 

 the neighbours seeing him). 



And again : 



' Lalej-o kimukuk eh tare mej se kooko rei piuolon-na ; 

 Karengan en wanamo tena ni lalej kanaraman.' 



' The cocks have crowed — and (she has) not waked (me). 

 Certainly there is an agreement with (a friend) to whom she is 

 long accustomed.' 



This means, if I rightly understand Graafland's trans- 

 lation of it, that the young man believed there was another 

 lover in the habit of visiting her whom she did not wake 

 before the cock-crow, and consequently he was ashamed to 

 be seen leaving her house after daybreak. 



The betel-nut plays an important part in courtship in 

 Minahassa, as it does aU over the archipelago. 



When the young Minahasser falls in love with a young 

 woman, he sends her a prepared betel-nut. If she accepts 

 it, it is taken as a sign of encouragement, and the young 

 man sends an emissary asking her to send him one. If 

 she refuses to do this, or sends him one which is not 

 prepared for chewing, then it is a sign that he is rejected ; 

 but if she wishes to become his wife, she sends him a well- 

 grown nut with the necessary ingredients, and the lover 

 knows that he is accepted. 



