d only
two or three old women kept going in and out. We found they were
taking off all the finery, and dressing the bride and bridegroom
in their usual clothes; for while we were drinking coffee and
eating Malay cakes at the little table, they came out from the
curtains, looking quite pleasant and natural. So we shook hands,
made our congratulations, and bade them adieu. We got home at
four o'clock, very hot and tired, and papa laughed at us for
going; but I was glad I did for once in a way.

A wedding is a very serious expense to Malays of any rank. The
bridegroom has to make settlements on the bride, and the bride's
father has to keep open house for weeks, besides fees to the
hadjis, and gunpowder _ad libitum_. The religious part of the
ceremony is enacted some days before the marriage. One day papa
was calling at a Malay house, where a wedding was about to take
place, and found the bridegroom learning a passage in the Koran,
in Arabic, which he could not translate, but which it was
necessary he should repeat. A hadji was standing by, driving the
words into his head. The hadji could not translate it either;
but the Koran may only be read in Arabic, lest it should be
desecrated. Sometimes papa would read a chapter to any Malay who
desired to understand the meaning of his sacred book; but they
were generally content with learning it as a charm, or certain
parts of it.

The Rajah often made a present of an ox for a great man's
wedding. This was a great help, for many dishes of curry could
be made out of so much meat. When we wished for some meat at
Christmas and Easter, we sent for the Mahometan butcher to kill
the animal. He turned its head towards Mecca, repeated prayers
over him, and then cut his throat in such a way that no drop of
blood was left in the flesh; for the Malays hold to the Jewish
law in that as well as many other particulars. Then the people
would buy whatever beef we did not want ourselves; but not
otherwise.

This is a long letter, but as I am on the subject of weddings, I
may as well tell you about a Chinese wedding we had the other
day at our house. The bridegroom was Akiat, a carpenter, about
six feet two inches high. He was dressed in whity-brown silk,
which made him look like a tall spectre; and the bride was Quey
Ginn, a fat, dumpy littl