The better to effect this, the carriage is hung round with curtains inside, and if the party arrive somewhat early at the village, the vehicle is detained at the entrance of it tillnear the close ofday, and till it is supposed that all are occupied in eating. When she reaches the door of her new prison, sherbet is brought her to drink, and some kind ofsweetmeat is given with it. She is next presented with a lamb, which is actually put into the carriage with her, and afterwards transferred to one ofher attendants. At length, after much bustle and preparation, the courtbeing previously cleared of all spectators, large coarse blanketing is fixed up, so as to prevent all possibility ofher being seen, and then, wrapped in a sheet, she is carried by her brother into the house. Here fresh forms and ceremonies await her. Being received into one of the most private rooms, a curtain is fixed up so as entirely to cover one corner of it. Behind this the poor girl is placed, who, after the annoyance and fatigueshe has undergone, is glad to rest as much as she is able in this nook of her cage. Decorated now in all her gayest attire, and glittering with gold and brocade, she is still not permitted to be seen, except by her mother and female friends, who busy themselves in arranging her clothes in proper order, and in adorning the room with a profusion of gay dresses, embroidered handkerchiefs and towels, rich coverlids, and cushions of cotton or Turkish silk. All these are distributed around the room ; even the shifts, being new for the occasion, are hung up with the rest, along the walls ofthe apartment, forming an extraordinary sort of tapestry.
While this arrangement is taking place, the bridegroom, having parted with most of his guests, begins to prepare for a visit to his bride. Being now washed, shaven, and gaily drest, he is allowed about midnight to see his wife for an hour, at the expiration ofwhich, he is summoned to retire. Throughout the whole of the next day, she is destined to be fixed in a corner of the room, and to remain standing during the visits of as many strangers as curiosity may bring to see her. The men employ themselves in horseracing ; and three or four articles ofsome value are given for the winners. The bridegroom makes a point of paying an early visit to those whom he considers his friends, taking with him some little present of his wife's embroidery. Whenever a wedding took place among the Tatars of our own village, they always invited me to attend, and if by any cause I was prevented from going, they would send me some of every sort of pastry which they had prepared for the occasion. If I went, a party came to escort me, and a band of music either accompanied them, or met me at the entrance of the village. It likewise attended me when I returned home.
December 21st, O. S. 1819. The wedding of one of the sons of Atti Bey Murza is now going on in this neighbourhood, where it is supposed that the persons who will assemble on the last day of the ceremony will not be fewer than a thousand, and that the money expended will not be less than seven or eight thousand rubles. The receiving of guests will have lasted eight days, and on each day from four to five hundred persons have attended.
It is by no means rare for a Tatar peasant to expend from one thousand to two thousand rubles at his wedding, though there are many who are compelled by poverty to more frugality.
The excess to which this custom is carried amongstthe Tatar peasantry, exceeds credibility, In fact, a marriage amongst them is said to be frequentlythe ruin of the party. For the purchase of his wife, and the presents he gives her in clothes, and the distribution of other presents amongst whole villages who are invited to the ceremony, oblige him to sell a great part of his live-stock, and notaeldom the whole of it: oxen, horses, cows and sheep, are sold without mercy ; his magazines under ground are emptied ; and besides all this, he has been known to borrow money at an interest ofnever less than from two to three per cent, per month. An incumbrance such as this, Tatar industry does not soon surmount, and long continued poverty is the consequence ofindulging this ambition.
It is well known that the Mahometan law admits of a plurality ofwives. Four are allowed; but few Tatars are found to have more than one.