It is his privilege to assist the girl of his choice in her labours. The girls of a household are expected to husk the rice for the next day's use. This is done in the cool of the evening, out of doors, a wooden mortar and long heavy pestle being used. It is a well-recognised occasion for the lover to assist and entertain his sweetheart. Very pretty do the village maidens look, as, lightly clothed in almost diaphanous garments, they stand beside the mortars plying the pestle, alternately rising on tiptoe, stretching the lithe figure to its full height and reach, then bending swiftly to give force to the blow. No attitude could display to more advantage the symmetry of form which is the Tagal maiden's heritage, and few sights are more pleasing than a group of these tawny damsels husking paddy midst chat and laughter, while a tropical full moon pours its effulgence on their glistening tresses and rounded arms. Marriage. But let us return to the Catipado. He must be very careful not to give cause of offence to the elders of the family, more especially towards the end of his term, as there may be a disposition amongst them to dismiss him, and take on another to begin a new term. In fact, many natives have shown themselves so unwilling to consent to their daughter's marriage, when no sufficient reason could be given for their refusal, that the Governor-General, representing the Crown, is entrusted with a special power of granting the paternal consent in such cases. No regular marriage can be celebrated whilst the girl is a minor, without the father's consent. When this is refused, and the patience of the lovers is exhausted, the girl leaves her father's house and is deposited in the house of the fiscal, or churchwarden, under the care of his wife. A petition on stamped paper is then prepared, reciting the circumstances; this goes to the parish priest and to the Gobernadorcillo, who require the father to state the grounds of his refusal. If they are satisfied that no good reason exists, the petition, with their approval noted on it, goes to the Governor-General, and in due time a notification appears in the official Gazette that the Governor-General has been pleased to overrule the father's negative, and a license (on stamped paper also) for the marriage to be celebrated, is delivered to the priest. This procedure is very necessary, but it has the disadvantage of being slow and expensive, so that in some cases, instead of adopting this course, the youthful pair allow themselves some advances of the privileges of matrimony, and perhaps there arrives a time when the obdurate parent finds himself obliged to consent to legalise an accomplished fact to avoid an open scandal. The erring damsel, however, may think herself lucky if she escapes a fatherly correction laid on with no grudging hand, before the reluctant consent is granted.