rself. If you prepare vegetables, give him two parts and keep only
one part for yourself. If he gets sick and cannot go out, do not say
that he is dirty, but clean his mat and wash him.' A feast follows,
and at night the girl is brought to the boy by her mother, who says
to him, 'Now this my child is yours; I do not give her for a few days
but for ever; take care of her and love her well.' A companion of the
bridegroom's then seizes the girl in his arms and carries her inside
the house."

8. Widow-remarriage and divorce

It is uncommon for a man to have two wives. Divorce is permitted,
and is usually effected by the boy or girl running away to the Duars
or Assam. Widow-remarriage is a regular practice. The first time a
widow marries again, Father Dehon states, the bridegroom must pay
Rs. 3-8 for her; if successive husbands die her price goes down by
a rupee on each fresh marriage, so that a fifth husband would pay
only eight annas. Cases of adultery are comparatively rare. When
offenders are caught a heavy fine is imposed if they are well-to-do,
and if they are not, a smaller fine and a beating.

9. Customs at birth

"The Oraons," Father Dehon continues, "are a very prolific race, and
whenever they are allowed to live without being too much oppressed
they increase prodigiously. What strikes you when you come to an Oraon
village is the number of small dirty children playing everywhere,
while you can scarcely meet a woman that does not carry a baby on her
back. The women seem, to a great extent, to have been exempted from the
curse of our first mother: 'Thou shalt bring forth, etc.' They seem
to give birth to their children with the greatest ease. There is no
period of uncleanness, and the very day after giving birth to a child,
you will see the mother with her baby tied up in a cloth on her back
and a pitcher on her head going, as if nothing had happened, to the
village spring." This practice, it may be remarked in parenthesis,
may arise from the former observance of the Couvade, the peculiar
custom prevailing among several primitive races, by which, when a
child is born, the father lies in the house and pretends to be ill,
while the mother gets up immediately and goes about her work. The
custom has been reported as existing among the Oraons by one observer
from Bilaspur, [361] but so far without confirmation.

10. Naming a child

"A child is named eight or ten days after birth, and on this day