another sum for mutual trade; and it is agreed that they contribute areca-nut, red lime, seri-leaf, cakes and so forth for the wedding-feast. The plan of the new house and the number of the rooms are also specified. The elders then return and report to the parents of the young man, and if they are satisfied a bargain is made and accepted by both parties. All these matters being favorably settled in the case of our young people, Leang’s parents hastened to consult the astrologers in reference to a propitious day for the wedding, and the young man engaged workmen to build the house, which did not take long nor cost much. During all these months the lovers seldom met. For the Siamese young men and maidens there are no moonlight drives and walks, no pleasant tête-à-têtes, no exchange of love’s sweetest tokens, during courtship. They are carefully watched, and kept apart as much as possible. But by some of the thousand ways in which love ever makes itself known they knew that each was true to the other, and waited patiently. Meanwhile the bamboo house grew in the hands of the workmen day by day, until the sound of the saw and hammer was no longer heard, and the home was pronounced finished and ready to be set in order for the young couple. The wedding-day hastened on; the guests were all invited, and the birds twittering among the trees seemed to sympathize with the maiden who had lived among them from her earliest childhood, and to carol joyously, “Come, haste to the wedding.” The little house was festooned with the broad, graceful leaves of the banana and adorned with the tall green stalks of the sugar-cane, symbolical of peace and fruitfulness. Flowers and fruits were arranged in fantastic designs on the walls, bright-colored cloth was gracefully draped as curtains and screens; all things were ready and attractive in the new home. The ceremonies of a Siamese wedding consist largely of feasting. This feast of fruits and cakes and sweetmeats is spread on mats upon the grass among the trees and flowers, and the hosts await the arrival of the guests. By and by the sound of tabret and pipe and bands of music heralds the coming of a sort of procession. As the Siamese always walk in single file, one by one they came――the musicians with their oddly-shaped instruments, old men and women, young men, maidens and children――all gayly dressed in holiday attire, some bearing trays containing gifts for the bride and her parents, and others with offerings of fruit, cakes and confections to contribute to the already generously prepared wedding-feast in the fruit-garden. Out among her youthful friends, serving at the feast and bearing trays here and there among the guests――who are seated in groups on the grass, like the multitude fed by our Lord in Judea so long ago――flits the pretty bride. Although her face is brown, the rosy blush is plainly seen on her cheeks as she finds the eyes of her lover seeking constantly her own.