Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-06-14
A Mongolian Marriage.

A Mongolian Marriage.
"You've just come in good time for
the wedding" was the greeting with
which I was received in a small clus-
ter of Mongol tents, where L went to
pass few weeks one autumn. l had
heard nothing about it, but was well
pleased at the prospect of seeing so
grand a marriage as that of the daugh-
ter of high Mongol mandarin The
evening conversation in the tent was
all about the forthcoming match, the
various things that were to be made,
the presents that would be given, and
the feasting that would take place.
Next morning, before had gone out,
a tail young girl came to our tent with
a present for me from the mandarin,
and, as l was told she was his daugh-
ter, thought 1 was doing the polite
thing when referred to her coming
marriage. She looked confused, and
soon left the tent, when l was in
formed that I had been guilty of great
rudeness, as no bride in Mongolia is
supposed to know anything about her
marriage till she is carried off to be
delivered over to her husband. The
bride herself, of course, does know all
about it, and even assists in making
the garments, but still she is supposed
not to know, and my mistake lay in
taking it for granted that she did
know. L did all / could to repair my
error by sending her two silver rubles
to make buttons.
When got out among the tents 1
found that all hands were busy. Extra
tents were being set up, carpets, felts,
boots, garments, cushions, were being
sewed, and in short, everybody was so
busy that, as the brother of the bride
said, they had not time to eat or drink.
Attracted by the click, click of light
hammer, l entered tent and found a
silyersmith busy making the silver head
ornaments. He was a lama. and ex-
plained to me that he had been accom-
modated in another tent till the lama
son OF the mandarin was brought home
with a broken leg. The smith had
then to give place to the doctor, and
hifted himself, his. scales, his clothful
t tools, his blow-pipe and his pieces of
liver, to a humber tent, where he
was the guest of a amarried lama. called
On the broken-legged son, and found
him an intelligent and pleasing young
lama, who, without the least reserve
was describing how he had come by the
broken limb. He had been intoxicated.
fallen from his horse, and actually
made two attempts to remount before
he discovered what was the matter.
The eldest son, a layman, and married,
lived in cluster of tents about a mile
away. His dependents also were busy
at the same wedding outfit. In the
course of conversation was repeated
ly asked how we managed such affairs,
and the usual remark made when 1
described our wedding was, "How
easyY' In Mongolia it is formidable
business, lasting about week, more
or less.
The first thing that arrived
was a cartload of provisions from
the nearest Chinese town, prom
inent among the provisions being
two piculs "a picul is a weight
of 133 pounds) of strong Chinese
whisky. On expressing my surprise
at the largeness of the quantity, 1
was told that it was rather small, and
that the amount of spirit provided
at the other end-that is, at the
bridegroom's house-would be much
greater. The slaughter of an OK and
several sheep followed, and elected
grumbling rather than admiration
from the neighbors, who thought that
the quantity of meat thus provided by
no means sufficient. However, they
made the excuse that though the man.
DARN was high in rank he was poor in
purse, and could not well afford more.
The bridegroom's father, on the other
hand, was only commoner, but very
rich, so they hoped to make up for the
deficiency at home by the extra abund-
ance at the other end.
One afternoon a cartload of ladies
arrived. The cart was of the Peking
model, drawn by two spirited horses,
and guided by driver on horseback.
The ladies were grandly dressed in en-
broidered robes, flaming with all man.
ner Of figures, 10 almost all the colors
Of the rainbow. These first arrivals
were near relations Of the family,
and had come early to assist and SUI