THROUGH FINLAND. 
295 
ceremony, the new married man is obliged to declare, whether 
or no he found his bride a virgin. If he anfwers in the affirma¬ 
tive, the orator, either in verfe or profe, celebrates the happinefs 
of the young couple on the preceding night, and drinks to their 
health out of a clean, well fcoured, and bright cup. If in the 
negative, there is on the table a dirty and mean veffel, out ot 
which he is obliged to drink. In the bottom of this utenffi is a 
hole out of which the liquor runs, and is fpilt on the ground at 
one end, whilft it is emptied by the orator at the other. He 
after this makes fome remarks, and gives fome counfels of no very 
pleating nature, to the bride. When the orator has finiffied his 
harangue, in either of thefe cafes, he takes up a pair of the bride¬ 
groom’s breeches, which are at hand for the purpofe, and thumps 
the bride with them luftily (but not on her head or the/upper 
part of her body), faying, at the fame time, “ Be fruitful, wo- 
“ man, and don’t fail of producing heirs to your hufband!” 
It is a general obfervation, and which admits of no exception, 
that in proportion as tribes or focieties of men are rude and fimple 
in their manners, they are indelicate on the fubjedl of that paffion 
which unites the fexes. That pudor circa res veriereas, which Gro- 
tius held to be a univerfal fentiment, and chara<fteriftic of the hu¬ 
man fpecies, in Otaheite has no exiftence. There was a cuftom 
which prevailed not a century ago in fome parts of Scotland, and 
which, according to tradition, was once general, almoft as grofs 
as that of the Finlanders. On the day after the wedding, when 
the marriage feaft was continued, as in Finland, it was cuftomary 
for 
