102 GHULAM MUHAMMAD 



Translation : — 



(i) Do not weep, O flower-like girl, thy complexion will turn pale! 



(2) Thou wilt go on a lofty hill, O girl, thy complexion will turn pale. 



(3) Thou wilt (by weeping) burn your heart, thy complexion will turn pale. 



In Shinaki there is a custom called " Kao." If a young man has determined to 

 marry a certain girl but her parents are not willing to give her to him, the young man 

 either calls out in an assembly of the village headmen : — " The girl is mine, and I will 

 perform ' Kao ' if she is not given to me." Sometimes in order to assemble the people 

 he fires a gun outside the village and utters the same words in the presence of those who 

 collect ; or if he gets an opportunity he tears the girl's shirt slightly in the presence of 

 some other men and says 1 to her: — "You are mine." When this has been done, the 

 parents are obliged to marry the girl to him, but they can demand from him whatever 

 they like up to the limit of his means. If they marry the girl to anyone else, the 

 young man will murder the girl as well as her husband as soon as he gets an oppor- 

 tunity. 



IV. 



The Ceremony of " Seelo-ai-Thali " (Seat of Chastity). 



This ceremony was performed for old women, who have been virtuous and chaste 

 throughout their lives. These women were called " Seelo," and their descendants were 

 very proud of them, so that on the occasion of family quarrels they used to say to the 

 opposite party, " What have you to say to us? Our mother is " Seelo," while yours is 

 not." To accomplish this rite, an elevated stone platform, about five yards each in 

 length and breadth and a yard in height, was erected by the woman's nearest relatives. 

 On the day appointed all her kinsmen came to the place, with a white she-goat as a 

 sacred judge, to decide the fate of the old woman. The latter was clad in silk and placed 

 on a bench. The eldest of the family bound a silk turban on his head, as well as on that 

 of the goat ; and, placing the goat below the bench with its face westward, addressed 

 it in the following manner: — 



" O thou white goat, if my daughter " (or whatever relative the woman was to the 

 speaker) "has throughout her life lived an honest, virtuous and pious life and has 

 remained clear of the sins and crimes of falsehood, theft, debauchery and treachery, be 

 pleased to salute this bench for the sake of such a righteous and godly woman." In the 

 case of the woman having led a blameless life, the goat by touching the bench approved 

 her virtue. The assembled crowd then broke forth in cheers, and as an expression 

 of their joy the relatives killed several goats and fed the people present. But if it 

 happened otherwise, and the goat instead of performing what was considered an 

 obeisance to the bench, ran round it bleating, then a great shame took hold of all the 

 woman's kinsmen, and they ran away to their homes, never to speak to her again during 

 the remainder of her life, 



