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After the agreement is given, water and salt are produced, and the salt is dissolved in a small cup. The parents of the contracting parties then dip bread into the salt water. It is a point of emulation between the bride and bridegroom's representatives to first dip the bread into the cup ; if the bride's father is first successful, and puts the saturated bread into the daughter's mouth, it is considered a good omen by the bridegroom. The wife is then conveyed to the husband's house. The children and others of the mohulla, if it is in the city, put a rope across the road and make a pretence of stopping the party ; they are, however, bribed with a present to let the procession pass. The wife is called for two or three months Kelim, and the husband Kiayo : " the bride and bridegroom" during the first few months are not called by their proper names. As the bride leaves her father's house it is considered proper for the relations to weep. When she reaches the house of the bridegroom, before she enters in, a carpet or felt is first put outside the door on which she is seated, and a fire is lighted, and women of the husband's family, who are respectable matrons, hold the four corners of the felt or carpet upon which the bride is seated, and carry her round the fire three times, after which she is taken into the house across the threshold. The female relatives (usually unmarried) who have accompanied her, remain with her for three days in the house of the bridegoom (her own house). After the three months she ceases to be called Kelim, and goes by the name of Chaukan until she becomes pregnant, when she is called Jewan, and at this period the fact of her pregnancy is celebrated by feasting and singing with her female acquaintances ; at the same time she puts on the bands in front of her dress, which mark the mother, retaining them henceforward;
these are four short cross-bars fastened to the dress where it closes over the bosom ; they are either green or red as long as the husband is living, and during widowhood are covered with black.
Birth.—Is celebrated by a feast to the neighbours and friends in the case of a boy, but no demonstration is made for the birth of a girl. It is popularly believed, or stated at least, that two girls are born to one boy in this country, and certainly the very apparent preponderance in numbers of women which attracts the traveller's notice supports the assertion. There are no midwives in the country. The woman's mother or the neighbour women attend and do all the necessary service. The navel string is turned up to the forehead, and cut off at that length ; wrapped in cotton wool, coiled on the belly, and there secured by a band ; it is anointed daily with melted cow's fat, and falls off on the seventh or eighth day. Some take the skin of the sheep slaughtered for the feast to celebrate the event, and rubbing a mixture of one part kachur and two parts turmeric, finely powdered, on its inner surface, spread it whilst yet warm over the mother's back and belly, and keep it on for a night and day before removal. The skin contracts very firmly and, it is said, speedily restores the natural slim form. There is no music or dancing or rejoicing on the occasion of a birth as in India. The rich usually employ a wet nurse to suckle the child. The mother remains in seclusion till the fortieth day, on which she takes a bath and puts on new clothes, and receives her guests and friends at an entertainment. On this day the child is named, sometimes without ceremony, but usually the astrologer is called in to cast its horoscope and foretell its future. The child is on this day rolled up in swaddling bands, and for the first time put in the cradle which is to be its home till weaned. The cradle or beehuc is a wood frame on rocking boards, is covered with a curtain canopy, and spread with a mattress, in the centre of which is a hole for the shumuc. This is a wooden urinal, exactly like a common tobacco pipe ; the bowl is adjusted above—it is wider for girls—and the tube passes vertically down through the hole. It effectually keeps the bedding dry, and is of universal use. Strings of them are exposed for sale in the bazars.
Birth and onwards.—A new-born child, after being washed, &c., has a lump of sugar put into its mouth. The mother keeps the child near her for 7 days, but on the 8th day it is taken
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