After Tiffin A Rajah Came And Asked Me To Go With Him To His House, And
We Walked Down With His Train Of Followers And My Malay Attendant.
It
was a very nice house, with harmonious coloring and much deep shadow.
It soon filled with people.
There were two women, but not having an
interpreter, I could not tell whether they were the chief's wives or
sisters. He showed me a number of valuable krises, spears and parangs,
and the ladies brought sherbet and sweetmeats, and they were altogether
very jolly, and made me pronounce the Malay names of things, and the
women laughed heartily when I pronounced them badly. They showed me
some fine diamonds, very beautifully set in that rich, red "gold of
Ophir" which makes our yellow western gold look like a brazen
imitation, as they evidently thought, for they took off my opal ring,
and holding the gold against their own ornaments, made gestures of
disapproval. I think that opals were new to them, and they were
evidently delighted with their changing colors.
Mussulman law is very stringent as to some of the rights of wives. In
Malay marriage contracts it is agreed that all savings and "effects"
are to be the property of husband and wife equally, and are to be
equally divided in case of divorce. A man who insists on divorcing his
wife not only has to give her half his effects, but to repay the sum
paid as the marriage portion. It appears that polygamy is rare, except
among the chiefs.
Marriage is attended with elaborate arrangements among these people,
and the female friends of both parties usually make the "engagement,"
after which the bridegroom's friends go to the bride's father, talk
over the dowry, make presents, and pay the marriage expenses. Commonly,
especially among the higher classes, the bridegroom does not see the
lady's face until the marriage day. Marriage is legalized by a
religious ceremony, and then if the wife be grown up her husband takes
her to his own home. Girls are married at fourteen or fifteen, and
although large families are rare, they look old women at forty.
On the day before the marriage expenses are paid by the bridegroom, the
bride-elect has her teeth filed. It is this process which gives the
Malay women, who are very pretty as children, their very repulsive
look. It produces much the same appearance of wreck and ruin as
blackening the teeth does in Japan, and makes a smile a thing to be
dreaded. Young girls are not allowed to chew betel, which stains
badly, and have white, pearly teeth, but these are considered like the
teeth of animals. The teeth are filed down to a quarter of their
natural length by means of a hard Sumatran stone, or fine steel file.
The operation lasts about an hour, and the gums continue swelled and
painful for some days. After they have recovered, the blackening of the
teeth by means of betel chewing is accelerated by means of a black
liquid obtained by burning cocoa-nut shells on iron, Three days before
the marriage ceremony henna is applied to the nails of the hands and
feet, and also to the palms of the hands, and the hair is cut short
over the forehead, something in the style of a "Gainsborough fringe."
The wedding feast is a very grand affair.
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