a performance which in a village containing a large number of Bharias
may take from three to six hours. These tears are, however, considered
to be a manifestation of joy, and the girl who cannot produce enough of
them is often ridiculed. A prospective son-in-law who serves for his
wife is known as Gharjian. The work given him is always very heavy,
and the Bharias have a saying which compares his treatment with that
awarded to an ox obtained on hire. If a girl is seduced by a man of
the tribe, she may be married to him by the ceremony prescribed for
the remarriage of a widow, which consists merely in the placing of
bangles on the wrists and a present of a new cloth, together with
a feast to the caste-fellows. Similarly if she is seduced by a man
of another caste who would be allowed to become a Bharia, she can
be married as a widow to any man of the tribe. A widow is expected
to marry her late husband's younger brother, but no compulsion is
exercised. If a bachelor espouses a widow, he first goes through the
ceremony of marriage with a ring to which a twig of the date-palm is
tied, by carrying the ring seven times round the marriage post. This
is necessary to save him from the sin of dying unmarried, as the
union with a widow is not reckoned as a true marriage. In Jubbulpore
divorce is said to be allowed only for conjugal misbehaviour, and a
Bharia will pass over three transgressions on his wife's part before
finally turning her out of his house. A woman who wishes to leave her
husband simply runs away from him and lives with somebody else. In
this case the third party must pay a goat to the husband by way of
compensation and give a feast to the caste-fellows.

4. Childbirth.

The carelessness of the Bharias in the matter of childbirth is
notorious, and it is said that mothers commonly went on working up
to the moment of childbirth and were delivered of children in the
fields. Now, however, the woman lies up for three days, and some
ceremonies of purification are performed. In Chhattisgarh infants
are branded on the day of their birth, under the impression that this
will cause them to digest the food they have taken in the womb. The
child is named six months after birth by the father's sister, and
its lips are then touched with cooked food for the first time.

5. Funeral ceremonies.

The tribe both burn and bury the dead, and observe mourning for an
adult for ten days, during which time they daily put out