The examiner., 1886-01-16
QUEER WEDDING CUSTOMS.
The Australian Who Woes His Bride With n Club=The Asiatlc WaYa.

The Australian Who Woes His Bride
 With a Club-The Asiat1c Ways.
 "In Australia the native lover woos his sweetheart with 8 club, in some parts of Asia he has to buy her of her parents, in others he has to steal her," said an Englishman who has travelled in almost every land, especially in the out-of-the- way places. The Australian, when he would wed, makes up his mind as to which woman shall be his bride, and then hides in the bushes in the vicinity of her dwell ing place. AS soon as she comes near where the anxious swain lies hidden, and if she is alone, he pounces out upon her, promptly and effectually knocks her down with the club, and carries her of before she comes to. If he does not get her to his hut before she recoyers there is likely to be lively fight in the bush, for the Australian damsel is generally vigorous one, and she may have reasons of her own for objecting to the lover's efforts to win her. The would-be bridegroom may then be obliged to club her again, and as this is considered to be rather reflection on the ardor with which his earlier effort was made, he generally puts as much soul and muscle into his first love tap as he can summon.
 When a resident of the Cape, or Kaffir Land, yearns for life partner, he has an interview with the father of the lady. If the old gentleman thinks we'll of the youth, and that he would do honor to him as a son-in-law, he says: 1
 "Well can you give me two hundred cattle for my daughter?"
 That is it may be two hundred or it may be more or less, just as the old man values his daughter or appraises the stock owning or getting capacity of the pros pective son-in-law. If the young Kaffir is determined to wed the maiden whose hand he seeks, he will always reply that he can fill the bill as to cattle, no matter if he hasn't enough on hand to make good sized dish of hash, and never expects to have. He'll fix that. There are plenty of Kafirs who have cattle galore, and he gathers together few congenial friends, and they stroll over to some convenient kraal of a neighboring tribe, and walk away with the requisite number of cattle to make the bridegroom happy. Of course the owner of the cattle usually raises very strong objections to this exchange of prop erty and there may be number of woolly heads broken before the expectant bride groom secures the herd. If he gets them all right to his kraal, that settles the mat ter. The man who lost them knows that other tribes have cattle and that he may want fo marry somebody himself without having the necessary stock on hand to win the bride. Then he will forage on his neighbor in the same way. Thus is Fly mems torch kept lighted in Kaffir Land.
 In some parts of Central Asia the bride groom has a tough time in getting and keeping possession of his bride. In the first place, he has to steal her, and if she don't object to being stolen the couple may get to the wedding place with whole skins, for if she don't object she is not compelled to give any alarm, and the whole village will not be at their heels unless they are discovered by accident while making off. If she gives an alarm the bride-st ea1er must make his way hindered with the struggling damsel and followed by crowd of yelling neighbors. The wedding place is the hut of the young mans parents. And there he must take his bride before he can claim the right to her hand. If she has. not lungs enough to summon rescuers nor muscle enough to get away from the lover before the hut is reached, then she can make no further protest against the marriage The bridegroom can't claim bride until he has hut of his own to take her to, and in taking her from his fathers house to his own he has another gauntlet to run. The brides friends, whether she be a willing bride or not, have the right to assemble and attempt to rescue her while she is en route. The bridegroom throws his bride across his back. She is always covered with scarlet garment. He is surrounded by a number of youth living in his village, and all the brides young lady friends in her village, armed with stones and clubs batter and pelt the bridal procession and fill the air with fiendish yells in their efforts to keep the bride among them. The battle is waged in earnest, and both bride and groom are always covered with blood and bruises, even if they succeed in reaching the boundary line of safety. This they usually effect. If bridegroom fails to get away with his bride he is compelled to pay a ransom in cattle or other gifts to her parents before she will be delivered up to him.
 In other places in Asia the question of mans title to bride must be settled by fierce fight between the friends of the contracting parties. If the bridegroom's forces are victorious he has his inamorita as a trophy. If her friends are victorious he must pay such price as the victOrs de- mand. All over that country some cere- mony of violence or physical powers must precede wrestling In certain districts there must be 8 wedding match between the bride and groom. If the man wins, the woman must surrender herself to him. If she wins, she has the option of accept ing him or not. Some native tribes com pei foot race between the bride and bridegroom to decide the question of mar riage, and others require long chase on horseback.
 They have interesting marriage cere- monies in Norway and Sweden. The cus- tom among the Swedish peasants is ex- ceedingly droll. -.s.