Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/230

218 who are eminently an aquatic people, carry out this ceremony on the water. The bride is given a canoe and a double-bladed paddle, and allowed a start of some distance; the suitor, similarly equipped, then follows in chase. If he succeeds in overtaking her, she becomes his wife; if not, the match is broken off. Among the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula the chase takes place in the forest, on foot.

The first modification of this form is when the chase takes place in a set race-course, instead of in the open country. This is done by the Malays when there is no stream suitable for the boat-chase near at hand. A circle of a certain size is formed, the damsel, stripped of all but a waistband, is given a start of half the circle, and, if she succeeds in running three times round before her suitor catches her, the marriage is off. Among the Koriaks (northeastern Asia) the race takes place in a large tent, containing numerous separate compartments, called pologs, arranged in a continuous circle around its inner circumference; and the girl is clear of the marriage if she can run through the series of pologs without being caught. In this case the women of the encampment throw every obstacle in the way of the bridegroom—try to trip him up, and strike him with switches; so that here we have a combination of bride-racing with that form of capture in which resistance is offered by the women of the bride's party. A man has scarcely any chance of succeeding unless the woman wishes it. In a chase witnessed by Mr. Kennan the bride distanced the lover, but waited for him in the last polog.

From this variety the form passes through various stages of disintegration. Among the Aenezes (Arabs) the girl runs from the tent of one friend to another. Here, however, she is caught by the women, and conducted to the tent of the bridegroom, who stands at the entrance and forces her in. Among the Oleepa Indians of California the girl runs away and hides herself. "The lover searches for her, and, should he succeed in finding her twice out of three times, she belongs to him. Should he be unsuccessful, he waits a few weeks and then repeats the performance. If she again elude his search, the matter is decided against him." Among the Ahitas, or Aetas, the Negrito race of the Philippine Islands, the girl is sent away into the forest, by her parents, before sunrise. She has an hour's start, after which the lover goes in search of her. If he finds her before sunset, the marriage is acknowledged; if not, the affair is at an end. Among the Wateita (eastern Africa) the bride hides with distant relatives. Finally, the form becomes merely an elopement of the happy