2Z% S U M A T R A. 
with a more favored Avain, and fecures a match of her own choice* 
This practice, ftylcd tel&rres gaddees, h not the Icaft common way of 
determining a marriage, and from a fpirit of indulgence and humanity, 
which few codes cm boaft, has the fanSrion of the laws. The father 
has only the power left, of didtating the mode of marriage, but cannot 
cake his daughter away, if the lover is willing to comply with the cuf- 
tom in fuch cafes. The girl muft be lodged, un violated, in the hoiife 
of fome refpedable family, till the relations are advifed of the enkvementi 
and fettle the terms. If howevci, upon Immediate purfuit, they are 
overtaken on the road, Ihe may be forced back, but not after ilie has 
taken fanduary. 
By the Mofaic law, if a man left a widow, without children, his bro- 
ther was to marry her. Among the Sumatrans, with or without chil- 
dren, the brother, or neareft male relation of the deceafed, unmarried, 
(the father excepted) takes the widow. This is pra^^rifed both by 
Malays and country people. The brother, in taking the widow to him- 
felf, becomes anfwr taluli? for ivhai may remain due erf her purcfi afc money, 
and in every refpedt rcprcfents the deceafed. This is phrafed gunte$ 
1^ Uecar^ banta^nia — placing himfeifon his mat and pillow* 
ChaJHtjr of the Chaftity prevails more perhaps among tHefe than any other people. 
iwamcii, 2f is fQ materially the iiuereft of the parents to preferve the virtue of 
their daughters unfullied ; as they conftitute the chief of their fubftance ; 
that they are particularly watchful in this refpe6:. But as marriages in 
general do not take place fo early, as the forwardnefs of nature, in that 
climate, would admit, it will fometimes happen, notwithftanding their 
precaution, that a young woman not chufing to wait her father's pleafure, 
tsftcs the fruit by ftealth* When this is difcovered he can oblige the 
man to marry her, and pay the joojmr\ or if he chufes to keep 
his daughter, the feducer muft make good the difference he has occa* 
fioned in her value, and alfo pay the fine, called tippo^jg hcmee, for re- 
moving the ftain from the earth. Proftitutlon for hire is, I think* un- 
known in the cmntry^ and confined to the more polite Mdaj ba%arj, 
where 
