1855.] Notes on Northern Cacliar. 621 



couple place a foot each upon a large stone in the centre of the 

 village, and the Ghalim sprinkles them with water, and pronounces 

 an exhortation to general virtue and conjugal fidelity, together with 

 a blessing, and the expression of hopes regarding numerous pro- 

 geny. A grand feast concludes the ceremony. Notwithstanding 

 the religious nature of the rite, however, a man cannot get his wife 

 without paying for her, and the average price of a helpmate is Rs. 

 30, in kind, or coin paid into the hands of her parents. 



Should the money or goods not be forthcoming, and the power 

 of the little god very strong withal, the bride may still be won, the 

 lover undertaking to enter into bondage in the house of her parents 

 for a term not exceeding three years, after which the ceremony duly 

 takes place. The business of courtship seems to be well understood 

 and delicately managed among the old Kookies. As soon as a 

 young man has made his attentions sufficiently marked, he sends a 

 friend to the parents of the young lady of his choice, with a stoup 

 of liquor to present to them : if the wine be quaffed the proposed 

 alliance is accepted, and the lover summoned to enter into preli- 

 minaries. But if the offered cup be declined, the gentleman must go 

 elsewhere in search of a bride. 



Polygamy is interdicted and never practised. 



Widows and widowers may marry a second time, after having 

 remained in their bereaved state for a space of three years, and not 

 then, unless with permission of the family of their late spouses. 

 This permission is often withheld, and large bribes are frequently 

 exacted before giving it. 



The old Kookies burn their dead. The body is placed upon the 

 pyre together with different kinds of eatables, and the whole is con- 

 sumed, the ashes are then addressed by the friends of the deceased, 

 and his good qualities recited. A feast with plenty of good liquor 

 concludes the obsequies. 



A married man is accompanied to the pyre by his widow, who has 

 for the occasion donned her best clothes, and put on all her orna- 

 ments ; she walks by the side of the bier with one hand on the 

 person of her husband. When the body has been consumed, she 

 bursts into loud lamentations, affectionately takes leave of the ashes, 

 throws aside her ornaments and walks home with dishevelled hair. 



