AN ASSAMESE GENTLEMAN. A MEREE WOMAN.
London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, Cornhill
This spare diet has, of course, its influence upon the stature and bulk of the Assamese; who are, consequently, slender, effeminate, and indolent. Their complexion is not uniform; numbers being very fair, and as many excessively dark. Their morals are exceedingly depraved, and their manners servile and contemptible. Nor are the women one whit superior to the men; and although they are far from possessing attractive persons, they are utter slaves to the worst licentiousness.
The dwellings of the Assamese are of the meanest description imaginable: there are no stone or brick houses[4] in the country; a simple hut, ten feet by twenty, divided into a couple of rooms for sleeping and sitting in, or not uncommonly one solitary room, form the only accommodation a man, wife, and family possess. The hut is about ten feet high, with a grass roof, and the walls are made of reeds plastered outside, and sometimes inside also, with mud and cow-dung. A small platform of bamboos, two feet high, serves as a bedstead; and a seetulpattee, or grass mat, constitutes the amount of bedding, without any other covering than the clothes that are worn during the day. Many Assamese, however, prefer the bare ground, with a simple mat as a bed. The earth floor is daily plastered with mud and cow-dung: the cow being held sacred amongst the Hindoos, its ordure has, it is considered, the peculiar property of not only cleansing, but purifying their habitations. Its use certainly gives their huts a tidy appearance, and worms and insects are not so troublesome as they would otherwise be.
These frail buildings require yearly repairs, but the peasants are put to no expense for them, except in bringing posts, reeds, and grass from the jungle. Assamese families of respectability and wealth live in larger houses of the same character of architecture; but instead of one hut, they erect several close together, in the form of a square, each hut opening into the quadrangular court-yard, which is entered by a portico or receiving room for visitors.
In the estimation of the Assamese, marriage is one of the most important duties of life; not only for the additional comfort, assistance, and respectability it confers on the man, but because he considers he has not fulfilled the divine will if he has failed to take unto himself a wife—and sometimes a plurality of wives. Polygamy is prevalent throughout the province, and is only limited in extent by the means of each man to provide for the support of his wives. If a man marries only one or two wives, he probably has on his establishment three or four concubines; and his life is therefore embittered and harassed by perpetual family quarrels. It is the custom in Assam for parents to make early arrangements for the marriage of their sons; and having selected the daughter of any particular family of the same caste, a regular agreement is entered into for the amount of the dower to be paid to the parents of the girl, even when she is but a mere child. The first ceremony of betrothing the girl is called Tamul pankatta, or partaking of the betel nut and leaf of the betel vine; which takes place when the damsel may be about four years of age. The parents of the youth proceed to the house of the family with whom they wish to form a matrimonial alliance, make their proposal, and produce a present of the following articles:—
| Rs. | Ans. | Pice. | |
| Betel nut and betel leaf | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Two bhars (or baskets) of milk | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Fish | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Treacle | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Plantains | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Chura (parched rice) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Total rupees | 2 | 8 | 0 |
If the above present be accepted, then, to all intents and purposes, the agreement is ratified between the parties, and is considered as solemnly and legally binding as are the parchment instruments which regulate these contracts in England. The next ceremony performed in furtherance of the union of the young people is called Nowae toolun (or attaining the period of puberty), when the girl being about ten or eleven years of age, the youth’s parents proceed to her house again with another present composed of the following articles:—
| R. | Ans. | Pice. | |
| Oil | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Red vermilion, for the distinguishing mark of the tutelary deity on the forehead | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Betel nut and betel leaf | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Pitter goorie (rice flour) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Akho rice parched in the husk, (dhan) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Total rupees | 1 | 14 | 0 |