put on their best suits, and get ready for the wedding ceremony. Some refuse to be disturbed, and if a sound slumberer is rudely aroused by a spray of cold water blows may be freely exchanged. At dawn all is ready; the ladies pale with fatigue are arranged on one side and the men on the other. Then the bride is brought from her room, two ladies on each side of her, and she walks with slow and dignified steps to the "seat of honour." The bride-groom comes next and sits down beside her.
The qāzi with papers in his hand stands up to speak. A hush having fallen on the gathering, "Sisters and Brethren" he says, "I have here two documents, one the marriage certificate, the other mahr nāma. Two gentlemen from the side of the bride and two from that of the bride-groom have asked the parties concerned in marriage whether they accept each other as husband and wife. Thrice they have asked the questions and thrice they have heard the bride and bride-groom say, 'I do.' The husband has agreed to sign the contract providing so much in his mahr."
This document being read and re-read, the qāzi signs both papers. It also bears six or seven or eight other initials, including those of the father of the bride, of the father of the bride-groom and four shakīds, witnesses. These witnesses must all be elderly men. Then the bride and the bride-groom put their names or the impressions of their left thumbs on the contract. This being done, all is quiet again and the qāzi or mufti (both terms mean the same) reads a chapter from the Koran, and those rules and regulations which are laid down in the "Traditions of Muhammad." Then a short sermon is delivered which informs the young couple regarding their respective duties towards each other.
As soon as the ceremony is over, cries of "Be it ominous"—"Be it lucky" fill the air, and the bride is conveyed to her chamber again amidst showers of coins and flowers. The bride-groom retires to his own apartment. The qāzi
