458 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Timorese apply the name Vasumanni to the husband-giving, 

 and Fetosau to the woman-supplying clan. 



In Timor monogamy is the rule ; concubinage is also 

 practised ; but rarely otherwise than among the Eajahs 

 and chiefs. The wife of the Kajah — his concubines may be 

 whom he will — must be the daughter of a royal house, and is 

 selected by the people of the kingdom from among the best- 

 looking daughters of some neighbouring Eajah. When an 

 agreement has been come to as to the price of the bride 

 between these people or their representatives and the father of 

 the girl — always with the consent of her father's people — the 

 suitor-kingdom sends a deputation to stay and be, as it were, 

 a guard over the prospective mother of their future king, 

 till the price — always a large sum, often as many as two 

 or three hundred buffaloes, along with herds of horses and 

 goats, of sheep and pigs, of gold in dust and gold manufac- 

 tured, with piles of native cloth — has been paid. When the 

 money and gold portion of it has been sent to the father of the 

 girl, the future husband is invited, as a rule, to his father-in- 

 law's, where, after a great feast, at which hundreds of buffaloes 

 are killed, the girl is handed over to her lord and master to be 

 conveyed to his own kingdom. A large escort of her father's 

 people convey her to her new home, where, as long as any part 

 of the price is unpaid, they remain guests, as a daily reminder 

 to the Eajah that the balance is still to pay. 



If the Eajah have a son, he succeeds his father. If he have 

 daughters only, the eldest becomes Eajah in esse, whose active 

 duties are performed by a lieutenant, and the others may 

 become the wives of neighbouring Eajahs. If no Eajah offers 

 for them, they may not be married to any one not of royal 

 descent, with the exception, perhaps, and that very rarely, of 

 some of the highest officers in the kingdom. 



The people of the kingdom choose their queen's husband. 

 Having fixed their choice on a suitable person in some neigh- 

 bouring kingdom, they send a deputation to request the per- 

 mission of its Eajah and people for one of his sons to become 

 the husband of their queen. If the proposal is agreeable to 

 them, the selected youth is conveyed to his new kingdom, 

 receives its queen as a gift, and is endowed with the status 

 and rank of a nominal Eajah. He must remain in his new 



