all sizes, dressed in all manner of print and moleskin, who are taken care
of by Hottentot, Kaffer, and half-caste nurses, whose many-shaded
complexions, ranging from light yellow up to ebony black, add variety to
the animated scene.

Everywhere is excitement and bustle, which gradually increases as the time
for the return of the wedding-party approaches. Preparations for the feast
are actively advancing in the kitchen; coffee is liberally handed round,
and amid a profound sensation, and the firing of guns, the horse-wagon
draws up, and the wedding-party alight. Bride and bridegroom, with their
attendants, march solemnly to the marriage-chamber, where bed and box are
decked out in white, with ends of ribbon and artificial flowers, and where
on a row of chairs the party solemnly seat themselves. After a time
bridesmaid and best man rise, and conduct in with ceremony each individual
guest, to wish success and to kiss bride and bridegroom.

Then the feast is set on the table, and it is almost sunset before the
dishes are cleared away, and the pleasure of the day begins. Everything is
removed from the great front room, and the mud floor, well rubbed with
bullock's blood, glistens like polished mahogany. The female portion of
the assembly flock into the side-rooms to attire themselves for the
evening; and re-issue clad in white muslin, and gay with bright ribbons and
brass jewelry. The dancing begins as the first tallow candles are stuck up
about the walls, the music coming from a couple of fiddlers in a corner of
the room. Bride and bridegroom open the ball, and the floor is soon
covered with whirling couples, and every one's spirits rise. The bridal
pair mingle freely in the throng, and here and there a musical man sings
vigorously as he drags his partner through the Blue Water or John Speriwig;
boys shout and applaud, and the enjoyment and confusion are intense, till
eleven o'clock comes. By this time the children who swarm in the side-