56 RECORDS OF MALAY MAGIC, 
either party. It is the whoJe law of Malay entail and marriage 
-settlements in a nut-shell. 
When a marriage is arranged, it is the duty of the elders. 
of the two tribes to see that the real and personal estate of 
both sides to the contract, is carefully enumerated before 
witnesses; then at the dissolution of the marriage, the elders 
should arrange that the joint earnings during the married life 
of the parties are equally divided ; that the wife’s representatives 
get back what she brought into the contract and the husband 
his share, It may be imagined that as no written record is kept, 
the account becomes somewhat confused and quarrels ensue. 
12 3 
Vance ake a) 9) + St pa fa 5? 
a ee eee 
Kusut menylisikan, 
Utong membiar, pintong menerimakan, 
Oleh tompat samanda. 
To arrange all quarrels, 
Pay all debts and receive what is due, 
Is the business of the wife’s relations. 
The married man, as shewn in this and the next saying, 
would seem to be rather at a disadvantage ; he is merely a man 
married into the family all his quarrels and debts have to be 
settled by his wife’s relatives, and all debts due to him are 
collected by them. This seems after all pretty fair under the 
Menangkabau code, which, in exchange for the actual labour 
done in the rice fields by the women, exalts them to the 
position of actual owners of the usufruct of their holdings under 
the Raja as paramount lord. 
