Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-07

tucLu u w IcUuy III UlAlS.
Preparations were at length COM
pleted, and feasting began. have now
only an indistinct idea of how many
days the feast lasted, and as great
part of the fun consisted in drinking
whisky, I did not visit the jewellers often.
1 was once. taken to see q tentful of
ladies in full dress. They were fully
dressed, indeed! The most striking
thing was the gown, glazing with colors
and fierce with embroidered dragons,
whose eyes seemed ready to start from
their heads. Though inside a tent, they
all wore great fur caps, exactly like
those worn by men. At their side they
each had a hanging Of silk, silver and
gilt ornaments, but the most curious
part of adornment was the head-dress of
beads, which seemed to hang down Ill
round, and made it a matter of some
difficulty for the fair danes to convey
the cups to their mouths. 1 watched
the process of drinking tea under diff
culties for some time, then withdrew,
trying to calculate how many oxen each
of these women carried about on her
person. The silver ornaments were Of
native workmanship, the dresses, the
caps, the beads, were purchases from
Peking, and, with Chinese interpreters,
squeezes, merchants profits, and allow
ance for the time that the bill would lie
unpaid, must have cost a great sum.
One morning l was informed that the
young bridegroom would come that
day. Soon after, when out walking, I
saw a troop of horses tied at some tents
on a rising ground about a mile off:
Presently the riders issued from the
tents, mounted their steeds, and made
directly for our cluster of tents. They
came OF in beautiful style, till brought
to a halt by a steep-sided ravine cut out
in the plain by the water of the summer
rains. For a moment they halted,
confused, on the farther edge,
till some one discovered the pass;
they then converged on one point, and
one after another disappeared below the
level of the plain. A few moments
more and bonnets, then heads, then
horses, ros up into view again. The
troop widened out once more, and the
twenty horsemen, picturesque with their
bright costumes, and mounted on their
best steeds, swept past at full gallop.
The bridegroom, conspicuous by the
bow-and-arrow case he carried slung
from his shoulder, seemed a mere boy
fourteen or fifteen years old, but he was
mounted on perhaps the finest animalin
the troop, and rode we'll, keeping side
by side with his father.
The company dismounted at the poles
a little way in front of the tents, where
horses are generally tied, put themselves
in order, and Internationally towards
the principal tent. Every one seemed
to carry something in his hand, and 1
noticed that several, who carried little
open casks of whisky, asked eagerly
what they were to do with it. 1 sup
pose they brought it in bladders on
horseback, then filled it into the cases
when they dismounted. AS they stood
before the tent, each man holding his
present with both his hands, the brides
big brother, a tall, broad man, with a
good-natured face, came out and plant
ed himself in front of the door, demand
ing of the strangers what brought them
there. 1--WE want to enter your tent"
they replied. Then you'll have to
fight for It'll" answered the giant; and,
suiting the action to the word, the
strangers and the mandarin's followers
instantly began a scuf1e, pulling each
other about a good deal, but, as [ could
not help remarking, taking good care
not to spill the whisky.
The sham fight lasted a few seconds,
when the defenders gave in, and invited
the assailants to enter the tent. But
now another struggle began. No one
would enter first. The two head men
stood bowling each other in, neither en-
tering, till at last the stranger allowed
himself to be pushed in, and his host
followed. The second pair had the
same struggle, settled in the same way,
and finally, after a great ado, the whole
crowd entered and business began.
did not enter, but vas told that the
marriage contract was there and then
made, the bridegroom-or his father,
rather-promising to- treat the bride
well, and make such and such provision
for her. Consuming whisky seemed to
form an important part of the ceremony;
it was remarked that, though all were
able to mount and ride off when the
bargain was concluded, several of them
rode only a mile to the nearest tents, and
were unable to go on till next morning.
That afternoon a great cry arose
among our tents, and, running out to
see what had happened, 1 saw half a
dozen women leading the bride, newly
adorned with her matron's ornaments,
from the silversmith's tent to her
fathers abode. just at this stage was
she supposed to have discovered what all
the preparations meant. She howled
most vigorously, very much after the
fashion of distressed calf; but the Mon
gols said it was all right, it was a part
of the ceremony! Still crying and re-
luctant, she was dragged into the tent,
and there set aside in state.
Next morning all were astir early.
The proper hour for a bride to start de-
ponds on the year in which she was
born, and men skilled in such lore said
that this girl should have left her home
at two o'clock in the morning. When
the proper time falls at. such an incon-
venient hour, the difficulty is got over
by starting her, going a few yards, and
alighting in another tent, the journey
being commenced in earnest-resumed,
they would say-at a more suitable time
of day. In this case the ceremony nj