Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/337

Rh Like all people who have struggled for existence through centuries, the Cambodians rigorously preserve their usages. It appears that as the power of a nation declines, and its means of defending itself against foreigners become less effective, the people feel the need of establishing a rallying-point for their nationality, and find it in their institutions; and these they learn to cherish all the more as a memorial of the time of their national glory. Numerous old customs are preserved in this way in Cambodia. Perhaps the most interesting of them are those which relate to betrothals and marriage. Betrothals sometimes



take place at a very early age; but in case the parents have not entered into any engagement, and the young man has made his own choice, he addresses a woman whose business it is to attend to such matters, and employs her to sound the heart of his chosen girl and the disposition of her family. If his overtures are accepted, he visits the house of the young woman, making his salutations at the foot of the stairs and at the top, and explains the object of his visit to her parents.