The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-01-03

which forms an indispensable ingredi-
ent of the medicine mans pot and
which is used on so many occasions to
avoid i'll luck. This is preliminary.
Finally the morning before the sand
ing, which is the essential lay part Of
the wedding and the part was to see,
the legal and religious rite is perform
ed, kind of registry Office business,
where the dowry is paid over, conduct
ed before the kathi, or Mohammedan
priest, and in the absence of bride and
women folk. The sword dance by the
two Patanls finished, the bridegroom
was, escorted away, and the people
turned homeward; 1 also, to don native
dress and be present by invitation at
a Malay dinner at the rajah's house
and the subsequent marriage. ceremony
or sanding. About o'clock the we'd
ding procession collected to escort the
bridegroom, attIred just as dle had been
in the. afternoon, in pilgrims flowing
Arab robes, across to the house Of his
bride. After describing the ceremony
the writer proceeds: On the next day
at O'clock in the afternoon the mar
rage party reasSembled, this time for
the ceremonial bathing, mandi tolak
bola, or mandi sampat, TO avert i'll
luck. The bridegroom. dressed in his
holiday silks and escorted by his
friends, went over to the brides house,
where he has to live awhile under the
eyes of his mother n-law There he
changed his attire for the shabby
clothes that are always reserved for
ablution and, with a towel over his
shoulders, passed into the inner room,
where his newly welded bride, also
dressed in old clothes, awaited his COM
ing. Amid the buzzing gathering and
laughing of the mothers Of the KAN
pong the pair grasp each the end of a
handkerchief and so united march out
into the passage. The narrow passage
with the split bamboo floor is crowded
with excited women and every one ex-
cept the maZed victims is laughing
and talking. They, poor things, sit
with down turned faces, dumb, mo-
tionless. walking, sitting, standing, not
Of their own accord, but mechanically
aud under thu Gompulsion of eager
hands
Bowl after bowl Of water is poured
over the bedraggled pair strained
through 1.-THE cocoanut fronds and the
cloth. The milk of the young cocoa
nut is emptied after it. The cocoanut
shoots and cloth are soaked and drip
ping. Two women continue to drench
the couple, but for the sheer comedy
enacted by the rest had not been pre-
pared, though 1 had expected some
thing from seeing my friend the rajah
doff his official European khaki for
something less elaborate than his silks
Of yesterday. 1 was soon to learn.
The excited women having finished
with the victims in chief, turned their
attention to the. audience and vented
their feelings by dousing every one
within reach, the rajah and myself in
cluded. We could only retort with in
effectuaI lhandfuls, while they were
OF practieed arm and equipped with
basins However, fortune favored us.
Often bamboo squirts, sailed or pep
pered water or rice water are employ
ed. The women lead the bride away
for q fresh toilet The groom dons his
silks again and waits, no short time, in
the passage till bis spouse shall have
had her toilet completed to the salts
faction Of the matrons. Once more the
bridegroom is ushered inside, and he
and his bride are seated side by side,
as on the previous evening The nasi
dami or rice Of accord is brought in and
placed before them. They just taste
it, the circle Of women indulging the
while in piouant reflections on the mar
ried state and the newly married couple
10 particular. An old latah woman is
galvanized into grotesque activity,
clapping her hands and chuckling in a
grHf voice. The audience shrek with
laughter, their attention diverted for
q moment from the embarrassed pair.
The wedding is over. 1t only re-
mains for the bride and bridegroom to /
sembah or lift folded palms to brow
In salutation of the rajah, who has /
honored them by his presence and pro |
vided entertainment for their bridal |