In
Malay Marriage Contracts It Is Agreed That All Savings And "Effects"
Are To Be The Property Of Husband And Wife Equally, And Are To Be
Equally Divided In Case Of Divorce.
A man who insists on divorcing his
wife not only has to give her half his effects, but to repay the sum
paid as the marriage portion.
It appears that polygamy is rare, except
among the chiefs.
Marriage is attended with elaborate arrangements among these people,
and the female friends of both parties usually make the "engagement,"
after which the bridegroom's friends go to the bride's father, talk
over the dowry, make presents, and pay the marriage expenses. Commonly,
especially among the higher classes, the bridegroom does not see the
lady's face until the marriage day. Marriage is legalized by a
religious ceremony, and then if the wife be grown up her husband takes
her to his own home. Girls are married at fourteen or fifteen, and
although large families are rare, they look old women at forty.
On the day before the marriage expenses are paid by the bridegroom, the
bride-elect has her teeth filed. It is this process which gives the
Malay women, who are very pretty as children, their very repulsive
look. It produces much the same appearance of wreck and ruin as
blackening the teeth does in Japan, and makes a smile a thing to be
dreaded. Young girls are not allowed to chew betel, which stains
badly, and have white, pearly teeth, but these are considered like the
teeth of animals.
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