was set according to the
rank of the contracting parties; and if, perchance, the parents of the
bride asked more than the ordinary sum, they were under obligations
to bestow some gift to the married couple to suit the occasion as,
for instance, a couple of slaves, some small gold jewel, or a bit of
cleared land--for cultivation, as I have seen practiced even yet,
and which they called pasonor. In this bigaycaya was included what
they called panhimuyat, which was the sum that had to be paid to the
mother of the bride in return for her care and labor in the rearing
and education of her daughter. In it was also included the pasoso, or
the sum that was to be paid to the chichiva, or nurse, who had reared
her. At present, if perhaps there is no bigaycaya in any marriage,
for any reason, they never fail to collect these revenues from the
groom, upon which there is generally a suit.

498. This dowry or bigaycaya was and is given before the marriage with
all the solemnity that they can muster up, amid a great concourse of
maguinoos, relatives, and friends of the lovers. The latter are given
the crosses on the money to kiss, which is counted and exhibited
in public, in confirmation of the pact; and then the marriage is
immediately celebrated with feasting and rejoicing. The employment
of this bigaycaya is not the same in all the villages. In some it is
all converted into the property of the parents of the bride, by way
of trade, they selling their daughter (as do those of Mesopotamia)
for a reasonable price. If the men do not possess the wherewithal
with which to buy them promptly, innumerable sins follow and the two
live in improper relations, even to the knowledge of the parents
themselves--the young man serving as a servant in the houses of
the latter to do their will, but in the capacity of a son, as far
as familiarity and permission for evil are concerned. Many efforts
are employed to extirpate this diabolical abuse, but it still costs
great toil. Under the title of catipados (thus they call those who
are engaged for marriage) are some concubinages legitimate for all
time, for which the bigaycaya is not necessary. Having given up the
bigaycaya, the poor couple are left destitute, for the parents of
the bride take charge of everything.

499. That money is better used in some villages; for it serves to
provide all kinds of clothes for the bride, and for one-half the
expenses of the wedding (which are generally very great),