another long aisle; and to my utter
discomfiture, I found myself installed on the spot,
in the unenviable post of "Lion" of the
day's proceedings. To a person of modest
temperament, this was a most trying
moment. There was not another white face
there: cookey had been disappointed, it
seemed, in his other patrons, and knowing of
my intended visit, they had waited for my
appearance to capture me, and thus make me
add to the brilliancy of the scene.

I bowed to the bride, with as little appearance
of uneasiness as I could manage; but
when I turned to the bridegroom, I had
nearly forgotten my mortification in a burst
of laughter. The tall uncouth fellow had
exchanged his wonted not ungraceful drapery
for a sort of long frock-coat of blue cloth,
thickly bedecked with gay gilt buttons, and
sham gold-lace: some kind of a broad belt
of many colours hung across his shoulders:
he wore boots, evidently far too short for
him, which made him walk in pain; and,
to complete the absurdity of his attire, huge
glittering rings covered half of his hands.
The lady was oppressed with jewellery;
which, on these occasions, is let out on hire:
she seemed unable to bend or turn for the
mass of ornaments about her. White satin
shoes and silk stockings gave a finish to
her bridal attire.

As the party marched up to the priest, I
felt as a captive in chains gracing a Roman
triumph. No one of all that crowd looked at
the bride; they had evidently agreed among
themselves to stare only at me. I felt that I was
the bride, and the father, and the best man. I
looked round once; and what a strange scene
it was in the long white church! There were
hundreds of black faces, all looking one way
—at me—but I did not see their faces; I
saw only their white eyes glistening in the
bright noon-day sun, that came streaming
through the great open windows, as though
purposely to show me off. I wished it had
been midnight. I hoped fervently that some
of the hackery bullocks would break loose,
and rush into the church, and clear, me a
way out. I know nothing of how the
marriage was performed, or whether it was
performed at all; I was thinking too much of
making my escape. But in a very short time
by the clock, though terrifically long to me,
I found myself gracing the Roman triumph
on my way out. The fresh air rather recovered
me; and what with the drollery of
handing the cook's wife into the cook's
carriage, and the excitement of the busy scene,
and the scrambling for hackeries, and the
galloping about of unruly bullocks, I felt
determined to finish the day's proceedings. I knew
the worst.

I followed the happy couple in my vehicle,
succeeded by a long line of miscellaneous
conveyances, drawn by all sorts of animals.
Away we went, at a splitting pace, knocking
up the hot dust, and knocking down
whole regiments of pigs and children. Up
one hill, and down another, and round two or
three rather sharp corners, as best our
animals could carry us. At last there was a
halt. I peeped out of my carriage, and found
that we were before a gaily-decorated and
flower-festooned bungalow, of humble build:
the house of the conjugal cook. Up drove all
the bullock hackeries, and the gigs, and the
carts, but no one offered to alight.
Suddenly a host of people rushed out of the
little house in the greatest possible haste.
They brought out a long strip of white
cloth, and at once placed it between the
bride's carriage and the house, for her to
walk upon. Still there was no move made
from any of the carriages, and I began to feel
rather warm. At length a native came
forward from the verandah, gun in hand, I
supposed to give the signal to alight. The man
held it at arm's length, turned away his head,
as though admiring some of our carriages,
and " snap" went the flint; but in vain. Fresh
priming was placed in the pan: the warrior
once more admired our carriages, and again
the "snap" was impotent. Somebody
volunteered a pin for the touch-hole, another
suggested more powder to the charge, whilst a
third brought out a lighted stick. The pin
and the extra charge were duly acted upon.
The weapon was grasped: the carriages were
admired more ardently than before: the
firestick was applied to the priming, and an
explosion of undoubted reality followed. The
warrior was stretched on his back. Half the
hackery bullocks started and plunged out of
their harness, while the other half bolted.
To add to the dire confusion, my villanous steed
began to back very rapidly towards a steep
bank, on the edge of which stood a quiet, old-
fashioned pony, in a gig, with two spruce
natives seated in it. Before they could move
away, my horse had backed into the pony-
chaise; and the last I saw of them, at that time,
was an indistinct and rather mixed view of the
two white-robed youths and the old-fashioned
pony and chaise, performing various somersets
into the rice-field at the base of the bank.

Glad to escape from the contemplation of
my misdeeds, I followed the bridal party into
the little house. Slowly alighting from her
vehicle, the lady was received by a host of
busy relations; some of whom commenced
salaaming to her, some scattered showers of
curiously cut fragments of coloured and gilt
paper over her and her better half—probably
intended to represent the seeds of their
future chequered happiness and troubles; and
then, by way of inducing the said seeds to
germinate, somebody sprinkled over the
couple a copious down-pouring of rose-water.
The little front verandah of the dwelling was
completely hidden beneath the mass of
decorations of flowers, fruits, and leaves, giving
it at first sight the appearance of some
place between a fairy bower and a Covent
Garden fruit-stall. The living dark stream