'Central Asia. Part V. A contribution towards the better knowledge of the History, Ethnography, Topography, and resources of part of Asiatic Turkey and Caucasia' [‎265] (280/360)

OSS
aljout but she must not defend herself nor utter a sound. The husband
who has meanwhile gone before, receives her at the door with a burning
heart hand To T g ' 7 ^ is then Ied three times round the
\ fit placed on a raised seat m front of it. All the women of the
ageuou assemble and sing- before her in turns until cockcrow. During
al this time the bride must not utter a word. At the first crowing- of the
cock, a boy, invited expressly for this office, enters, and stepping- up to her
diaws the bridal veil from her face, tears it in two, hangs the pfeces upon a
and one ihTl^^She ' in . his ^nd, and exclaims, "nine boys
and one girl. fehe is now declared mistress of the house, and her service
the nartv h 8 u Uests sit dovvn to eat ' but she . instead of joinino-
the party, has to wait on them. Should she feel hungry, she can onlv satisfv
to thT^nerafca^ ei r00m ' When the Veil is removed, her face, according
& ei al Caucasian usage, appears covered up to the eves All these
customs,—leading the bride round the hearth, placing her on an elevated seat
L much bet0re h T' ^ the Veil ^ from her Lt-We
so much that is German in character, and in their symbolic reference to the
duties and rights of the mistress of the house, thaL persormrht W
himself transplanted to some corner of Germany. G 7
he Ossetes have usually only one wife, but occasionally rich men take
two. In this the influence of Mahamadanism is observable • but with
thLSs Tf ^ d0 ^ estlc ^ abits bea r ^ strong resemblance , to those of
e nations of Europe. Lven their custom of purchasing the wife does not
indicate her slavery, for her consent must be obtained before the marriau-e
SjW n ! T- ' 'f hey dlffe - i fr0m alra0St a11 the 0ther Caucas ian races in
oecursjthat a girl losTherThUit^bXe m Wge^ 6 oTthe ^ther hand'
ifh 1 ; a o s ^ 5tri ^ retired ^
As among the Armenians, she must not exchange a word with any one
convet^ri : even with her parents and her brothers and sisters she
cenveises by signs alone. As soon as she has borne a child, or if likely to
remain childless atter four years, she is fully emancipated; and she then
dtr^'l C0 T"' al , hdelit J' «PO«8 herself to much scandal. A gross and
demorahzmg abuse has crept in, whieh saps at the root of domestic life:
for Mm Zr SOn 18 f . th ? "S* of six or ei S ht ' sometimes purchases
so oallmlH,. 8 f W ' a S"' ot fourteen or sixteen, and cohabits with his
wl^M n l Wer-in-law; she becomes perhaps the mother of a son, for whom,
tnm r >0U S1 fi ^f ars 0 ^ tbe nomina l father again purchases a wife, and in
m LZ i C0UrSe What has been Jd above of the affeetio.
j 1 1 , 0 . e stnet retirement and perfect silence, is not appli-
caoie to such cases as these.
saine ^me, the strictest ideas of the rights of marriage prevail
bv m f 16 0ss< J tes - ^yery child born in marriage, even if proved to be
j ncest or adultery, is considered a legitimate offspring, in name, succes-
ri f mhentance. A woman who has borne children cannot, after the
ohll.A ^ bu8baild ^ ma rry again out of the family; she has been pur
ged and is their property. The father or brother of the deceased may
hj; . ."f' wblcb indeed the Ossetes consider a matter of duty, a point of
is indissolubl 00 U ^ 0U ^ as a con tinuation of the first marriage which
265 Ik