A TRYING ORDEAL.
'" he husbands of Aleppo undergo a trying ordeal before they win their wives. Captain Burnaby, author of "A Ride to Khiva,'' while in Asia recently had the ceremony described to him by a s'oung bey from Aleppo. " A girl has say three lovers " said the bey ; "she takes three bits of live charcoal from out of the fire. Giving each of her lovers a piece, she tells them to place it in the palms of their hands. The fire burns through the skin till the tendons are laid bare ! Sometimes the amorous gentlemen will resist till the flesh has been burnt to the bone. Here one or two of them generally succumb to the torture; tne man who resists longest generally wins the lady. " Did you ever try it ?"' " No," said the bey, laughing, " I can get a wife without any trouble, so I do not care about burning my fingers. We burn our ringers quite soou enough after marriage as it is."
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5173, 15 June 1878, Page 6
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166A TRYING ORDEAL. New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5173, 15 June 1878, Page 6
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