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JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. X. 



bridegroom by the hand to the kdvin kalari, where he 

 takes his seat on his haunches before the priest. The 

 attendant multitude take their seats, and are served with 

 betel and spittoons, as before described, whereupon a 

 kaduttam is drawn out in the following form : — 



On the 30th day of the month Zul Hijja, in the year of 

 the Hijrat 1299, being the 11th day of November, 1882, 

 on the occasion of the marriage of Mira Lebbe, son of 

 Ahamadu Lebbe, of New Moor street, with 'A'yesha, daughter 

 of Hassim Marikar, for the magar of 100 kalangi of 

 red Egyptian gold, by the vdli of the bride's father, to 

 Mahallam Seka Ismail Lebbe Hajiar, priest, the dowry 

 agreed upon is 10,000 rds., viz. 1,000 rds. in cash, &c. 



(Signed) MiRa Lebbe, Bridegroom. 



(Signed) Hassim Marikar, Bride's father. 



1 , Priest. 



Witnesses: 2 — 



3 



This kaduttam is the only written record of the marriage ; 

 it is signed and witnessed by the parties, the priest, and 

 two responsible witnesses, and taken charge of by the 

 priest, in whose custody it remains thereafter, exposed to 

 all the perils to which such documents are liable in the 

 hands of irresponsible and unscrupulous men. The persis- 

 tency, however, with which this document is executed and 

 the custom observed, though not required by any law, 

 Muhammadan or otherwise, is only another proof of the 

 absurd conservatism of the Moors. 



The next function, in the usual order of things, is the kdvin. 

 The priest takes the bridegroom's right hand in his own, 

 repeats a formula in Arabic three times in succession, and at 

 the end of each addresses the bridegroom thus : "Are you, 

 Mfra Lebbe, son of Ahamadu Lebbe, willing to take 'A'yesha, 

 daughter of Hassim Marikar, as your wife, for the magar of 

 100 kalangi of red Egyptian gold ?" To which Mira Lebbe 

 answers in the affirmative. The priest pronounces another 

 Arabic formula, after which he, with two witnesses, enters 



