stealthy fashion for years after their marriage-perhaps until several children had been born to them.

In China it is not usual for the young couple to see one another previously to the wedding. The bridegroom agrees to pay a certain price for the lady, who is then sent to him in a closely locked sedan, attended by a splendid cavalcade with music and banners. The key of the sedan is delivered to the husband, who opens the door, and takes his first look at his bargain. If he is satisfied, he hands her out and introduces her to her new relatives, and the day concludes with feasting and merry-making. But if he does not like the looks of the damsel, he locks the door again, and incontinently sends her back to her parents.

This may appear but a rough reception, but, at any rate, it is not so unpleasant as that which, according to Burton, the Somali accord their wives. "On first entering the nuptial hut," he tells us, "the bridegroom draws forth his horsewhip, and inflicts memorable chastisement upon the fair person of his bride, with the view of taming any lurking propensity to shrewishness she may possess" (Burton, p. 121). The old Muscovites followed the same practice. They thought it best to begin married life by administering a sound flogging to the wife.

But the men do not always have it their own way, not even in savage life. In the Ladrones the women (we are told) exercise absolute authority over their husbands, as in other countries husbands exercise it over their wives. We are informed by Gobien that "the wife is absolute mistress of the house, the husband not daring to dispose of anything without her consent. If she disapprove of his conduct in general, or of his treatment of her in particular, she wreaks her vengeance

on him, or abandons him entirely. On a separation of this kind, the wife takes all the property and the children."

In some Persian tribes the women have even the right of choosing their husbands. If a woman is pleased with the appearance of a man, she sends a messenger with a handkerchief, which he pins on to the man's cap. The man is straightway obliged to marry her.

Among some tribes of the Mongols it is customary to smear the bride's head with oil and red lead, and at the bridal feast the bridegroom is required to feed her-probably because, under the circumstances, no one else could be found who would be devoted enough to do it. In Congo the lady adorns herself in this way, in order to attract suitors!

In Ceylon it is said that the betrothed couple are allowed to live together for a fortnight before marriage, to see how they like one another-a dangerous experiment one would think. In Congo this is sometimes extended to two or three years. Among the Turcomans precisely the opposite course is followed, and the newly married pair are not permitted to live together for a year after marriage; during all which time the bride is employed in preparing carpets and clothes for the future home.

The relations between the husband and wife and the new connections acquired by the marriage, are sometimes very curious. In China they seem to consider these to be almost as close as blood relationship. The American Indians, on the contrary, regard the marriage as necessarily causing alienation, even where the families have been intimate before. It is thought most improper for the man to speak to his mother-in-law, or the woman to her fatherin-law. If they chance to meet one another, when out

walking, they cover their faces and look away.

The same

is said to be the case with some tribes of the Mongols and Africans.

One more matrimonial custom-the most extraordinary, it may safely be said, of all—is the Chinese practice of marrying the dead. For a record of this we are indebted to Marco Polo. He tells us that, among the Chinese, "if any man has a daughter who dies before marriage, and another man has a son who dies before marriage, the parents of the two arrange a grand wedding between the dead couple. They draw up a regular contract, and when the contract papers are made out, they put them into the fire, in order that the principals in the other world may know the fact, and look upon each other as man and wife. The parents also thenceforth regard themselves as related to each other, just as if the children had lived and married."

Strange as this sounds to us, Polo's narrative is fully confirmed by other writers. "In the province of Shan-si," writes Navarette, quoted by Marsden, "they have a ridiculous custom of marrying dead folks to one another. It falls out that one man's son and another man's daughter die. While the coffins are in the house (and they sometimes keep them two or three years) the parents agree to marry them. They send the usual presents, as if the pair were alive, with much ceremony and music. After this they put the two coffins together, hold the wedding dinner in their presence, and lastly, lay them together in one tomb. The parents from this time forth are looked upon-not merely as friends, but as relatives-just as they would have been had their children been married when in life.

When an engagement has been made between a youth and