国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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provision for old age. For example, a woman will marry in Yarkand, and, if dissatisfied, will, after a short time, quarrel and divorce her husband before the Cdzi, whose fee for the letter of divorce is only one tango. By the act of divorce she gets rid of a master and profits by the amount of dowry, clothes, &c., she received on marrying him. The dowry is not a fixed sum, but varies according to terms agreed on prior to marriage. A woman, after divorcin, her husband, cannot re-marry till the expiry of the'iddat, which is a period of three months and ten days; but the divorced husband may re-marry alter the expiry of forty days. This woman, after the days of 'iddat, will marry another husband in Yarkand, producing the letter of divorce ro show that she is free to do so. Hire., too, she will divorce as she did the first, keeping the wedding clothes, outfit, and dowry. She now has two let tens of divorce, and is thus enabled to evade the law and escape the restraint of the'iddat, during, which she would have to live upon her dowry. and commences a system of divorcing by which she secures an independence,

and finally settles down with the man of her choice.   And she works it thus : having
divorced her second husband in Yarkand, she at once goes off to Yangi Hissar, and there contracts a marriage on the strength of the letter of divorce of the first husband, the date of which shows that the 'iddat is no bar. As the others, so him, too, she divorces, and securing the dowry, moves on to K6shghar, and there plays the same game, and gradually works her way back to her home with the accumulated profits of some eight or ten such transactions.

Should she bear any children, they belong to the husband who is the father. If he so choose, he may resign his claim and give the child to the mother, and if not, he leaves the infant with the mother till weaned, and then takes possession of it.. During this period, according to the decision of the Cari, he pays the mother from one to four tanga a month for the child's keep.

Marriage.—The girl desired by a son is demanded for him by his father and mother, who visit the girl's family and ask that she may be given. Refusal is, as a matter of form, twice given, but the third time the girl's parents consent. When this happens, the father and mother of the youth present the girl with a ring and a pocket handkerchief. The parents of the youth are, on this occasion, given tea and sugar, and return home.

The engagement thus formed may be continued for ten or twelve days, or even for six months, without marriage.

Whenever the ceremony has been determined on, the bridegroom elect gets ready clothes for his bride :—a hat; a chogah ; a kurpa; a tukin, a marjan, (bead ornament); a lahore (indoor hat) ; munchak (a thread of pearls) ; dandi (zéra) (earrings) ; belâuzak (bracelets) ; such tatma (chignon for plaits of hair) ; toothir (charms) ; oitak (boots) ; jurâb (socks) ; tshtân (pyjama) ; tshtran bag (pyjama strings) ; agabanoo (a cloth thrown over the shoulders) ; frinjee (an overcoat with large sleeves in which the arms are not inserted) ; koilik (a chemise). The trousseau prepared as above is conveyed by the bridegroom, with a sheep, rice, and sheep's fat, to the house of the bride and presented to her parents; on this occasion he is accompanied by his father and mother and immediate r3latives, who remain as guests in the bride's house for three days, during which feasting and dancing and singing go on at the expense of the girl's parents.

On the fourth day the girl's parents present the bridegroom with an entire suit of clothing; boots, &c. The bride then selects a man of their acquaintance as Padr Wakeel (Toyata) (Marriage Father). This is arranged as follows: Two grey beards of the party approach the girl and ask her whom she selects as her Toyata, when she names an individual. The mullah then arranges with the Toyata and the dowry is fixed and marriage settlement. The mullah then asks the bridegroom if the settlement is agreed to. When this is announced to the assembled relatives they shout mubarik. This is doue with the reading of the kulmah, and thus completes the marriage ceremony.

The woman cannot be taken from one city to another without her consent : this is agreed to by the husband, being demanded by the Toyata; he further declares that he will not chastise her without fault ; that he will not take another wife without her consent; that for six months after marriage he will not undertake a journey. If he then starts on a journey, that he will advance a subsistence allowance of six months; that he will alldw his wife free intercourse with her father and mother and near relations.