n they will marry and live apart for a time with their
parents. Sometimes they will go and live together with the man's
parents, but more usually with the girl's mother. Then after a time,
when they have by their exertions made a little money, they build a
house and go to live there; but sometimes they will live on with the
girl's parents for years.

A girl does not change her name when she marries, nor does she wear any
sign of marriage, such as a ring. Her name is always the same, and there
is nothing to a stranger to denote whether she be married or not, or
whose wife she is; and she keeps her property as her own. Marriage does
not confer upon the husband any power over his wife's property, either
what she brings with her, what she earns, or what she inherits
subsequently; it all remains her own, as does his remain his own. But
usually property acquired after marriage is held jointly. You will
inquire, for instance, who is the owner of this garden, and be told
Maung Han, Ma Shwe, the former being the husband's name and the latter
the wife's. Both names are used very frequently in business and in legal
proceedings, and indeed it is usual for both husband and wife to sign
all deeds they may have occasion to execute. Nothing more free than a
woman's position in the marriage state can be imagined. By law she is
absolutely the mistress of her own property and her own self; and if it
usually happens that the husband is the head of the house, that is
because his nature gives him that position, not any law.

With us marriage means to a girl an utter breaking of her old ties, the
beginning of a new life, of new duties, of new responsibilities. She
goes out into a new and unknown world, full of strange facts, leaving
one dependence for another, the shelter of a father for the shelter of a
husband. She has even lost her own name, and becomes known but as the
mistress of her husband; her soul is merged in his. But in Burma it is
not so at all. She is still herself, still mistress of herself, an equal
partner for life.

I have said that the Burmese have no ideals, and this is true; but in
the Laws of Manu there are laid down some of the requisite qualities for
a perfect wife. There are seven kinds of wife, say the Laws of Manu: a
wife like a thief, like an enemy, like a master, like a friend, like a
sister, like a mother, like a slave. The last four of these are good,
but the last is the best, and these are some of her qualitie