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NUPTIAL BANQUET.
many a loyal and willing toast, no doubt, given, and then the company separate. I must not forget to mention that a wedding-cake of approved dimensions, and splendidly arrayed in gold and silver leaf is placed in the centre of the table, and calls for many a sidelong glance from those damsels who, as yet, are doomed to remain in single blessedness. Sometimes these wedding breakfasts, or whatever else they choose to term them, are held in the country ; at other times, the company remain in town, and the bride and bridegroom retire there by themselves to spend a part of the " honeymoon," and then return to the capital to receive the complimentary congratulations of their friends, and make their appearance at church in their wedding attire. The dress of the gentlemen upon this eventful occasion is similar to that worn by them at their balls : brass chains and rings are rubbed up with chalk in order to restore their pristine brightness ; silk stockings, dyed with the flowers of the Hybiscus to the colour of a pigeon's legs ; and shops and stores ransacked, to procure waistcoats and stocks of the brightest dyes. The bride is generally arrayed in white : if they can raise sufficient cash, white silk, satin, or figured “ challis" is the material ; but if the funds are rather low, white muslin suffices them. The bonnets are either white satin, or tuscans trimmed with white ribbon, and wreaths of white flowers are fashionably arranged on the left side. Veils are sometimes worn upon these occasions, (to hide their " blushes") and “ parasols and sandals," and then the lady's dressed. The morning after the wedding, the “ bride's cake" is sent round to their numerous acquaintance ; and then they return to their usual business and their dishabille, until the sound of the " Sabbath bell" bids them open their chests of cedar-wood,* and put on their gala-dress. It may * A chest made of cedar, for the purpose of containing their wearing apparel, is looked upon by the negroes as quite indispensable ; and consequently, there are but few among them who do not lay by part of their earnings, that they may be enabled to procure one.