Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-11-24


by his means.
D4tto Tito is said to have about 90
women in his harem, the sultan of
Sulu has IS and the sultan of Min
danao has at least 10. Each of the
head Moros has two or more wives.
Some, 1 am told, vary their number
of wives with the times and the sea-
sons. All that a Mohammedan has
to do to get rid of a wife is to say,
Il divorce you" three times, and the
woman must return to her parents.
These Mohammedans differ in many
ways from the Mohammedans of the
Mediterranean. They do not pray so
often as their brothers of Turkey and
Arabia, but they believe just as
strongly. They are not so exclu-
sIve as to their women, who
do not hide their faces from the men,
They go out unveiled upon the
streets, and in their rude huts there
are no women's quarters. But that
man who offends 8 woman outside
his family is subject to fine of 50
and if the woman so offended be mar
ried the fine is $l05.
The woman who is insulted must
complain at once, for if she allows the
matter to rest over night the Moro
law provides that she must pay the
fine. The husband has also the right
to whip his wife. and if she is untrue
to him he can kill her. Divorces are
often brought about by the mutual
consent of both parties. l have spent
considerable time in trying to ascer-
tain what the marriage customs of
the Moros are. l find that the mar
riageable age ranges from II to Is
years and that a girl is very old
maid at 20.
Moro MaIden's Campaign.
When the Moro maiden reaches IL
she begins to bang her hair, shave
ner eyebrows and blacken her teeth.
she has her teeth filed into the APP
proved shape of Moro beauty, rub
bling them of square at the bottom
md cutting hollow groove in their
front sn that they stand out like
scoop shovels. Then she uses black
rooth wash, boiling some ripe cocoa
nut milk and dropping a red-hot
iron in it. The milk and iron
,"rm All oxide which gives the teeth
the appear tnce of having been p linted
with black carriage varnish. One
cOloring lasts for mouth or so.
About this time the young men of the
village-and the old men. too. for a
Mohsm medan is seldom too old TO
marry-cast their eyes upon the girl
she carries about her matrimonial
sign with her, showing i; in her black
teeth whenever she opens her mouth.
II she il at all good looking she has
not long to wait. Then comes the
question of price. The parents of the
would-be bridegroom call upon those
# the girl and announce that their
son has fallen in love with her. There
is council during which the families
chew The betelnut. which the party
of the bridegroom have brought with
nhem for the purpose. Tne' price TO
be paid is suggested and the council
breaks up. The brides family usually
taxes three days to consider the pro-
position and then the contract is
made. The price varies. If the girl
is pretty and can read the koran she
brings more than otherwise. AS a
rule the price is $40 in silver. water
buffalo worth about $I5 and 500 pieces
of rice cake worth l cent each. OF
the cash e goes to the girl and the
rest TO her parents. The other sup
plies are used for the wedding feast,
which is paid for by the bridegroom.
Feast on the Buffalo.
The buffalo is killed, cut into pieces
and stewed. The rice cakes are spread
out and the friends of the families eat
until all is consumed. The only |
drinks are coffee and tea. The mar
riage ceremony is performed by the |
Mohammedan priest in the house of
the bride, the couple standing while |
he repeats a long prayer from the
koran over them. At the close of this |
the man is asked if he takes this |
for his wife and he replies |
yes" Then the question is put to
me woman. Her relatives reply in
the affirmative. These questions and
answers are thrice repeated. The |
priest holds the bridegroom in such a
wav that his (the priest's) right thumb
rests against that of the bridegroom.
At the close the bridegroom presses the
.humb that has been against that of
he priest upon the forehead of the
bride. Next he mixes up a chew of
1etel. and, waving it about her
head, throws it down in front of her.
She pretends not to notice it, but one
If her friends picks it up and later on
The chews it in secret.
According to the Moro law, if
husband remains away from his wife
more than three months she can de-
nand divorce.
The sultan of Sulu the other day
Lsked whether it was the same in the
United States, and if the wives of our
soldiers would not all be getting new
husbands on account of their absence
or so long time.
Six FrIghtfuI Failures.
Six terrible failures of six different
doctors nearly sent William H.Mullen
If Lockland. o, to an early grave.