“No! It is thou who shouldst come to me.” Then Adam advanced towards her, and this was the origin of the custom, that the man should seek the woman. When he had sat down by her side, and touched her with his hands, emotion thrilled through his frame, and he became bewildered; but Eve said: “Stay, Adam: Eve is only legitimately given to thee as a wife, on condition of a dowry, and a common consent expressed.” Then God, in His Old Language, pronounced a formula of marriage, and said:—“There is nothing sublime but my grandeur; nothing imposing but my majesty; and all creatures revere and adore me. I take you to witness—you, my angels, and you, the inhabitants of my heaven—that I unite in marriage this marvel of my creation, Eve, to this first man, my image upon the earth; but on condition of a dowry—and this dowry shall be, that he pronounce these words: ‘God is great; there is no god but God.’” Thus were established and consecrated the form and conditions of marriage for the posterity of Adam. Every nation, however, has since modified the original custom, and the Forians also have their special forms. Among them the children—boys and girls—are generally mixed together. From a very early age they are employed in watching the herds, and are thus in constant communication. Many of them begin their intimacy at that time, and become linked in an affection which time cannot break. Love follows, and then the cares of love and jealousy; and at last the lover, egotistical in his passions, wishes to keep all the men away from his mistress. So he demands her in marriage, and the contract of union is drawn up in presence of witnesses, and the price of the bride, or the dowry, as it is called, is discussed. For some time afterwards the ceremony is deferred; but at length the day is fixed, and preparations are made for the nuptial feast. Animals are slaughtered, drinks are prepared, and invitations are sent out. Many music-women are hired to enliven the festival. Each of them carries under her left arm three tambourines, on which she plays, greeting every new troop of guests with a song in their praise. For example,—“You, who brandish the shafts of your spears, may death be slow to overtake you!—May the eye which looks enviously on you become blind!—you, who brandish the steel of your lances,” &c. I was once at a marriage festival where the women greeted me with these verses,—“The Shereef comes from the mosque with a book in one hand, and a sabre in the other; he bears away the Birguids into slavery!”