the wife becomes entitled to the whole of it, should any misbehaviour on his part compel her to quit his house. Should the parties agree to separate, terms of accommodation are settled between them; but, if the lady prove unfaithful, then the husband possesses the right of dismissing her from his house, and of retaining her dowry for his own use. Adultery, however, must be clearly proved before a husband can venture to repudiate his wife, as nothing less than being caught in the fact can justify a recourse to this extremity. In the event of their parting amicably, which is said rarely to occur, the sons remain with the father, and the daughters go away with the mother. These are the general rules which guide the conduct of the great body of the people. The chiefs of high rank, and women of quality,[1] may be considered, in a certain degree, as exempt from all rule, their conduct in these respects being restrained by scarcely any other laws than those which the power and consequence of their respective relatives imposes, who always interfere on such occasions as parties concerned. There exists, as I have before mentioned, a more holy kind of marriage, practised in the country, where the parties take the communion together, which is sanctioned by the priests. This, I was given to understand, becomes of rarer occurrence every year, the people, in general, preferring the simple compact, which can be dissolved at pleasure.
Having made a small present to the new-married couple, we proceeded on our journey, and at nine o'clock arrived at the church of St. Michael, (mentioned in my former journal,) situated on a lofty hill, commanding an extensive view of the adjoining country. Here we found a chieftain of some consequence, with about fifty followers, who had waited two days on this spot with the expectation of falling in with our party. They had been sent by Shum Temben Toclu, chief of the district, an old man of considerable authority in the country, to solicit us to go a few miles out of our way, and partake of
- ↑ Ozoro was formerly a title peculiar to women of high rank; but it is now become very common throughout the country, every woman of the slightest pretensions being distinguished by that appellation.
