Note 310 — VII. EARLY WEDDING CUSTOMS.
Reading edition
Astley, Collection of Voyages, ii. 240, 273. It is a common rule of etiquette that, when a proposal of marriage is made, the purport of the visit shall only be approached indirectly and cursorily. It is curious to find such a rule among the Red Indians (Algic Researches, ii. 24; i. 130), the Kafirs (Maclean, p. 47), the Esquimaux (Cranz, i. 146), even the Hottentots (Kolbe, i. 149).