St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-04-28
CURIOUS CUSTOMS
How . South African Bride u
Wooed and Won.
Weddings Among the Barraloag Ka0rs-
= Present for . M0ther.1n. Law
\ Ballosk tn he Klnsd ~
the Groom.

e~sse AsssOuSc oA AOuSu xAAA ~ 80
. tribe which probably does not rank
exceedingly high in the scale Of orea-
tion. Nobody has ever heard of \
Barraling Roya Academy. with . pres
ident and associates. or = Barralong
Board Of WorkA with fortnightly
scandals; nor has the race yet pro-
duced Barralong Shaksepeare-or
Bacon. The shockingly backward con.
dition OF this interesting Kaiir people
is further evidenced in the fact that
they are declared to be destitute of any
religion whatever. 1t ia therefore.
quite useless to look for Barralong
archbishop; indeed. il an English
bishop were imprudent enough to leave
our shores and 60 among this simple
minded folk they would probably be-
gin to look for him-with assegaia
1t is curious circumstance. and
shows the wide range of subjects which
the legal profession in England has to
deal with. that the manners and Gus
toms OF the Barralong Kafhrs are now
ex rcising the ingenuity and learn
ing # the Chancery Division.
Mr.. Justice Stirling has been
trying to discover what is consid-
cred to be proper AMI legitimate
marriage ceremony among these South
Africans. and it need hardly be said
tha. in doing SO the English court has
not been infue iced by any merely
academical desire to study little
known tract of sociology. There are.
indeed. very substantial reasons why
the whole question Of how these un-
civilized denizens of the bush live.
move and have their being should be
thrashed out by learned counsel.
Most people will remember tho
name Of Bechuanaland. If nothing
more. for it was there that Sir Charles
Warren conducted one of the most
brilliantly successful and entirely
bl"odless expeditions that have ever
started under the English dag II
may also not have passed out Of gen.
eral recollection how one Of the incl
dents which aroused the deepest in
dignation in England in regard to
Boer onslaughts on that country was
the cruel murder Of a young man
named Bethel. who had been the head
OF police force in that district The
particular tribe of Bechuanas among
whom Mr. Bethel settled was this
very race Of BarralongS and. curious
1y enough. some time before his death
he seems to have welded a Kaffir girl
60 the accompaniment of certain
rites demanded BY Barralong
public opinion For example,
it is considered de rigueur''
BY Barralong mothers OF marriages.
bic daughters that any young man
suing for the hand If one Of .'the
girls" is bound to kill an OK and make
. present of its head TO his future
mother-in-law. The oxs head buys
the maiden. in fact The question be-
fore the Chanccry Division was partly
rs to whether Mr. Bethel. before he
took 10 himself this dusky beauty,
went through the various social ago
nies demanded by Bechuana etiquette.
Did he kill his OK in correct stylei III
90. did he make this rather ghas,ly
prenuptial Offering to his revered
mother-in-law. and did she. in q trans
port of beefy happiness exclaim:
'.Bless you. my childrenr' and con.
sent to their unione These are strange
inquiries to be proceeding in a grave
court OF British justice; yet on their
c'rrect solution depend good deal of
property and much beside.
1t would be decidedly interesting to
know how many English young men
would dare to take the plunge into
matrimony il they first Of all had to
clutch the pole axe and administer the
deaih-blow to vicious bullock iust
landed At Deptford and fresh from
Transatlantic prairies Tho proba-
bi!ity 10 that in that case we should
have much fewer engagements
than at present or else . start.
ling increase in breach-ofpromise &C
tions. Imagine the verger Of 81.
Georges. Hanover Square. standing
outside that sacred edifice just before
. fashionable wedding was to take
place. and vainly endeavoring to hold
. lively OK on which the frightened
Bridegroom wss expected soon to
operatei 1t would be impossible. con.
sisienily with ecclesiastical tradition,
so lock the animal up in the vestry I'M.