A NATIVE WEDDING. 
219 
must give you some account of the curious and 
interesting scene. 
The bride is the only child of a native rajah, 
while the bridegroom, an Amboinese native also, 
affecting European manners and dress, is a clerk 
in Government employ. Three different even- 
ings we had to give up to witnessing this cele- 
bration. The first evening we ladies went in 
walking -dress to the house which was to be occu- 
pied by the young couple. We were received, 
according to their etiquette, by the bridegroom 
and liis mother, and shown the numerous and 
elegant gifts which had been presented to the 
bride by friends and acquaintances. It seems 
this giving of elegant presents is in imitation of 
European practice, and many who can ill afford 
it determinedly vie with their neighbours. In 
the course of a few months all would be sold by 
the recipients to defray the expenses of the 
wedding. While we were there, a seemingly 
endless stream of natives of the humbler class 
poured in, to the accompaniment of a rude native 
band, bearing in trays upon their heads their 
own offerings of confectionery, fruit, and simple 
products, all neatly covered with snowy napkins. 
The bride we did not see, she being still busy 
with the preparations at her father’s house, but 
