their wishes for the long life of the bride and bridegroom. They also place at each house two balls of rice flour in the form of sugar-loaves, which they call Shree; and towards the close of the night, they eat rice with the girl and boy. These customs are accompanied with much hilarity.

Early in the morning, the women and female neighbours again assemble, and taking with them a pan of water, the pots which contain the oil-lights, the balls of rice flour, and some betle-nut, go round to the neighbours, and give to each a morsel of the betle-nut. On returning home, in some towns, they place the boy and girl, at different houses, on a bamboo door, when the mother, as an expression of her joy and good-will, lights some straw from the thatch, and turns it round the right foot of the boy, or girl, three several times; after which the persons present lift up the door, with the boy or girl placed on it, three, five, or seven times; the women then, taking some thread, and stretching it, walk round them four times, and then tie this thread with some blades of dōōrvŭ grass, round the right arm of the boy, and the left arm of the girl. They prepare also a kind of ointment with oil and spices fried together, and rub it on the head and all over the bodies of the young couple. All these actions have no other meaning, than that they are tokens of joy. In the forenoon, at both houses, to secure the happiness of the boy and girl, they present offerings to deceased ancestors. The bridegroom, as a mark of affection, sends to the bride a present of fish, betle, sweetmeats, plantains, sour milk, and cloth: in some cases, the bride makes a similar present to the bridegroom. In the course of the afternoon, the heads of the young couple are shaved; and

9 One of the names of Lŭkshmēē, the goddess of prosperity.

while the bridegroom stands upon a stone placed in the middle of a small artificial pool of water, round which trees are planted, and lamps placed, the wicks of which are made of the fruit of the thorn-apple plant, the women bring the pot containing the lamp, the ball of paste called Shree, and a number of other precious things, and going up one by one to the bridegroom, with these things touch his forehead. If the person has the means, the rest of the time till night is occupied in feasting relations, bramhuns, neighbours, &c. The bride, bridegroom, and the person who gives the bride in marriage, all fast till the wedding is over.

In the marriages of the rich, great preparations of music, fireworks, illuminations, &c. are made, and vast multitudes are invited to the wedding. Some persons spend more than 100,000 roopees in the marriage of a son or a daughter. At a fortunate hour in the night, the bridegroom, dressed in silk, and wearing many gold and silver ornaments, a gold chain round his neck, and a gilt crown upon his head, prepares to go to the house of the bride : he is seated in a gilt palanqueen, or in a tüktŭnama. If in the latter, there is room for four servants to stand at the four corners, in the inside, to fan him, or rather to wave over him a brush, made of the tail of the cow of Tartary. The procession at a magnificent wedding is very long before the bridegroom's palanqueen, the servants of the father walk, carrying silver staves; open carriages proceed slowly, containing dancing women and singers; a flag is also carried, and a metal instrument like a dish is placed on an elephant, and beat at intervals. The streets are illuminated by the flambeaux and lights which the attendants carry in their hands; and fireworks, placed on both sides the streets, are discharged as the

procession moves along. Horses, camels, and elephants, richly caparisoned, are placed in convenient situations the procession, and musicians, playing on various instruments, are placed before and behind the bridegroom. Lately many of the rich natives have called in the assistance of English music at their weddings. At intervals guns are fired. All things for the procession being prepared before-hand, the whole waits for the coming of the bridegroom. At a marriage, the procession of which I saw some years ago, the bridegroom came from a distance, and the bride lived in Serampore; to which place the bridegroom was to come by water. After waiting two or three hours, at length, near midnight, it was announced, as if in the very words of Scripture," Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him."-All the persons employed, now lighted their lamps, and ran with them in their hands to fill up their stations in the procession; some of them had lost their lights, and were unprepared ; but it was then too late to seek them, and the cavalcade, something like the above, moved forward to the house of the bride, at which place the company entered a large and splendidly illuminated area, before the house, covered with an awning, where a great multitude of friends, dressed in their best apparel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was carried in the arms of a friend, and placed on a superb seat in the midst of the company, where he sat a short time, and then went into the house-the door of which was immediately shut, and guarded by sepoys I and others expostulated with the door-keepers, but in vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful

r

In many instances, the marriage rites are performed in this area, before all the company, and this is proper; but an affectation of modesty and family pride not unfrequently lead the father-in-law to the resolution of hav ing the ceremonies performed in the house.

-parable as at this moment: "And the door was shut !”. I was exceedingly anxious to be present while the marriage formulas were repeated, but was obliged to depart in disappointment,

From time immemorial, the Hindoo young men have considered a wedding procession, as it passes through the villages to the house of the bride, as fair game :-groups of wicked boys and young men, therefore, attack the wedding company in all those ways by which they can most annoy them, and in which they are greatly assisted by the darkness of the night. Serious disputes, attended with the loss of lives, have sometimes occurred amidst this rough and dangerous mirth,

After entering the house, the bridegroom is led to the place where the marriage rites are to be performed, and where the father-in-law, taking off the old garments and poitá of the boy, arrays him in new clothes, and takes him into an inner apartment, where they make him stand on a stool placed on the cow's head and certain other things buried in the earth, adding a number of female superstitious practices, to induce the bridegroom to behave well to the bride. They next bring the bride on a stool covered with the bridegroom's old garments, and carry the girl round the bridegroom seven times; they then permit the bride and bridegroom fairly to look at each other for the first time. The happy pair are then brought to the former place, and made to sit near each other, when the father-in-law puts into the hands of the bridegroom fourteen blades of kooshŭ grass, tied in two separate parts, which the boy ties under his feet. The father-inlaw now pours some water into the right hand of the bridegroom, and while the latter holds it there, the

with a prayer; and then The officiating brambun hand on a pan of water,

former reads an incantation, at the close of which the bridegroom lets it fall on his feet; rice, flowers and dōōrva grass are next given, which he lays on his head; water is presented as at first sour milk; then again water. now directs the boy to put his and places the hand of the bride on that of the bridegroom, and ties them together with a garland of flowers, when the father-in-law says, " Of the family of Kashyŭpů, the great grand-daughter of Bhoirŭvů, the grand-daughter of Ramŭ-Huree, the daughter of Ramu-soondŭrů, Kshŭma, wearing such and such clothes and jewels, I, T'hakoorŭ-dasŭ, give to thee, Ůbhuyu-churŭnů, of the family of Sandilyŭ, the great grandson of Soondŭrů-dasŭ, the grandson of Kanaee, the son of Bhuju-Huree." The bridegroom says, "I have received her." The fatherin-law then makes a present, "for good luck," and adds to it household utensils, &c. according to his ability; and then takes off the garland of flowers with which the hands of the married pair were bound, repeating the gayutrēē. A cloth is now drawn over the heads of the couple, while they again look at each other; and this part of the marriage ceremony here closes, after the boy and the girl have been directed to bow to the shalŭgramŭ and to the company, that they may receive the blessing of the gods and of the bramhuns. A bramhun, or a female whose husband and son are living, then fastens the bride and bridegroom together by their garments with the above piece of cloth, as a token of their union; and they are thus led back into the midst of the family.

During the ceremonies of marriage, selections from the Mishru, a work on the different orders of Hindoos, are rehearsed by the ghutŭkus, amidst the assembly, and