Forms of 
irregular mar- 
riage. 
‘The marri- 
age by surprise 
(¢erkurong dt- 
dalam.) 
Enhanced fees 
payable on. 
82 REMBAU HISTORY, ETC. 
evening, they therefore require the permission only of the Elder 
(ibu-bapa). A lavish wedding ceremony lasts for five nights, 
involves the provision of two or three head of butfalo, and 
demands the sanction of the Undang.* 
But there are speedier means of concluding a marriage 
than the method described: and irregular marriages, equally 
binding with the union consequent to a formal betrothal, are 
not infrequent in Rembau. | 
Custom acknowledges four classes of irregular marriage. 
(I). The marriage by surprise. (TZerkurong didalam). 
When a man and woman are caught together inside the house, 
they are compelled by custom to wed. Their capture may be 
wholly fortuitous, or the result of set purpose,—either person 
having arranged a surprise. News of the capture is des- 
patched forthwith to the tribal chiefs of man and girl, and the 
lover is not permitted to leave the house till his tribal chief 
has guaranteed payment of the price of guilt,—the adat 
sa-salahan.? If the man’s family delayed payment, the 
tribal chief was, under Malay rule, empowered to levy the 
fee, as being a debt-of-inheritance, on the ancestral pro- 
perty of the man’s family, in the manner prescribed by 
custom. <A chief failing to exact payment was guilty of 
abetment of the offence,* and liable to deposition by the 
Undang. 
The amount of the fee varies with the tribe involved. 
Formerly, the entire payment was made not in cash, but in 
white cloth, bearing a fictitious value of six cents per cubit 
(hasta). The cloth was divided between the girl’s family and 
(1) The marriage ceremonial of the low-country (baroh) district 
differs slightly from the inland (darat) practice. In the Baroh 
district the bride is not brought out to meet her betrothed on the 
verandah, as in the Darat, during the first two days’ feasting: and 
the Baroh practice of sending a bridal deputation to escort the 
groom’s litter to the house of the bride immediately prior to the 
ceremonial bathing, is dispensed with in the Darat district. 
(2) For amount of fee in the various tribes see App. IT. 
(3) v. chap. II. p. sub Lembaga. 
(4) Melindong, vide chap. II. p. 
Jour, Straits Branch 
