inted, the friends and acquaintance of both parties assemble at the
house or tent of the oldest relation of the bridegroom, where a feast is
prepared on the occasion. The company who meet to assist at the festival
are sometimes very numerous; they dance, they sing, and enter into every
other diversion usual at any of their public rejoicings. When these are
finished, all those who attended merely out of ceremony depart, and the
bridegroom and the bride are left alone with three or four of the
nearest and oldest relations on either side; those of the bridegroom
being men, and those of the bride women.

Presently the bride, attended by these few friends, having withdrawn
herself for the purpose, appears at one of the doors of the house, and
is led to the bridegroom, who stands ready to receive her. Having now
taken their station on a mat, placed in the centre of the room, they lay
hold of the extremities of a wand about four feet long, by which they
continue separated, whilst the old men pronounce some short harangues
suitable to the occasion. The married couple after this make a public
declaration of the love and regard they entertain for each other, and
still holding the rod between them they dance and sing. When they have
finished this part of the ceremony, they break the rod into as many
pieces as there are witnesses present, who each take a piece, and
preserve it with great care. The bride is then re-conducted out of the
door as she entered, where her young companions wait to attend her to
her father's house; there the bridegroom is obliged to seek her.

Another manner of performing the ceremony is said to be peculiar to the
Naudowessies. When one of their young men has fixed on a young woman he
approves of, he discovers his passion to her parents, who give him an
invitation to come and live with them in their tents. He accordingly
accepts their offer, and by so doing engages to reside in it for a whole
year in the character of a menial servant. During this time he hunts,
and brings all the game he kills to the family; by which means the
father has an opportunity of seeing whether he can provide for the
support of his daughter and the children that might be the consequence
of their union. When this period is expired, the marriage is solemnized
after the custom of the country, in the following manner:--Three or four
of the oldest male relations of the bridegroom, and as many of the
bride's, accompany the young couple f