DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4647#0140
SINGULAR MARRIAGE CEREMONY. 129
pot-bellied, and with water running from their mouths,
they have in most respects more the semblance of savage,
than of civilized man. Their women and children have
much the same squalid appearance, though on their necks
and wrists they wear ornaments made of the different
kinds of wild seeds and of berries. Many of the men also
wear ornaments in their ears, of yellow straw, plaited with
some degree of ingenuity 5 but, in their general appearance,
they are much like the Erulars, pictures of wretchedness
and misery. They gave us an abundant supply of honey,
plantains, and such fruits as, on the higher parts of the
mountains, or in the vicinity of Oatacamund, are consi-
dered delicacies.
They have no marriage ceremony; but occasionally,
when two have been living together for some time, they
will enter into an agreement, in the presence of friends,
to remain united for life; and in a family where a suc-
cession of such unions has taken place, they will, once in
two or three generations, perform a ceremony, and hold a
festival in celebration of them.
This is done by pouring pots of water over one ano-
ther, the pairs seating themselves together for this pur-
pose ; the ablution, probably the first voluntary one they
have had in their lives, commencing with the seniors.
They then put on new clothes, and end the day in feasting
and merriment.
Like the Erulars, they cultivate, in patches, a little
K
pot-bellied, and with water running from their mouths,
they have in most respects more the semblance of savage,
than of civilized man. Their women and children have
much the same squalid appearance, though on their necks
and wrists they wear ornaments made of the different
kinds of wild seeds and of berries. Many of the men also
wear ornaments in their ears, of yellow straw, plaited with
some degree of ingenuity 5 but, in their general appearance,
they are much like the Erulars, pictures of wretchedness
and misery. They gave us an abundant supply of honey,
plantains, and such fruits as, on the higher parts of the
mountains, or in the vicinity of Oatacamund, are consi-
dered delicacies.
They have no marriage ceremony; but occasionally,
when two have been living together for some time, they
will enter into an agreement, in the presence of friends,
to remain united for life; and in a family where a suc-
cession of such unions has taken place, they will, once in
two or three generations, perform a ceremony, and hold a
festival in celebration of them.
This is done by pouring pots of water over one ano-
ther, the pairs seating themselves together for this pur-
pose ; the ablution, probably the first voluntary one they
have had in their lives, commencing with the seniors.
They then put on new clothes, and end the day in feasting
and merriment.
Like the Erulars, they cultivate, in patches, a little
K