(III, 287.)
He says:
"Many of the Afghan tribes have a custom of wooing similar to what in
Wales is known as _bundling-up_, and which they term _namzat bez?©_. The
lover presents himself at the house of his betrothed with a suitable
gift, and in return is allowed to pass the night with her, on the
understanding that innocent endearments are not to be exceeded."
Spencer St. John tells us, in speaking of the piratical and ferocious
Sea Dayaks of Borneo, that "besides the ordinary attention which a young
man is able to pay to the girl he desires to make his wife--as helping
her in her farm work, and in carrying home her load of vegetables or
wood, as well as in making her little presents, as a ring or some brass
chain-work with which the women adorn their waists, or even a
petticoat--there is a very peculiar testimony of regard which is worthy
of note. About nine or ten at night, when the family is supposed to be
fast asleep within the musquito curtains in the private apartments, the
young man quietly slips back the bolt by which the door is fastened on
the inside, and enters the room on tiptoe. On hearing who it is, she
rises at once, and they sit conversing together and making arrangements
for the future, in the dark, over a plentiful supply of _sirih-leaf_ and
_batle-nut_, which it is the gentleman's duty to provide, for his suit
is in a fair way to prosper; but if, on the other hand, she rises and
says, 'be good enough to blow up the fire,' or 'light the lamp' (a
bamboo filled with resin), then his hopes are at an end, as that is the
usual form of dismissal.
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