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of the blood but sons who have left the family to support themselves are disqualified from any inheritance. Daughters of the deceased likewise have no right to any inheritance but the deceased's brothers receive a share. On the dissolution of the estate the boat and engine are first offered for sale within the family. It might be that one of the heirs wishes to sell out his share and to build or purchase a vessel for independent operation. In any case the value of the property in the estate is realised and then the debts of the family are counted. If the value of the property in the estate is insufficient to offset the debts, one of the heirs may take the whole estate and thereby assume sole responsibility for all the debts of the family. Alternatively, the heirs on sharing the assets will share the debts equally also and will then each inform the creditors what share of the debt he has assumed responsibility to pay.
Marriage 17
Most sea-dwellers follow the old Chinese custom in marriage and very few reach marital state through love-affairs or register their marriages in the modern manner. A match-maker is employed to introduce the relatives of the boy and the girl and then upon the agreement of the respective parents the boy sends a gift to the girl as a symbol of their engagement. Then a temple or fortune-teller is consulted regarding the fixing of the wedding date. Ten days before that day the boy gives the girl's parents notice and on the day before the wedding he sends her a large present of cakes, wine, roasted pigs and other delicacies. That night the girl's parents give a dinner party. The following morning the boy sends one of his close female relatives with the match-maker in a sampan to a given rendezvous and they escort the bride to the bridegroom's boat. On her arrival the bride first salutes the bridegroom's ancestors. In the afternoon a dinner party is given by the bridegroom's parents usually on a "Ko Tong” (=restaurant boat). If the bride's family is wealthy a dowry may be given.
Since they are accustomed to adopt a son if their wife has no issue, few sea-dwellers keep concubines. However if a concubine is kept in the traditional manner then she must receive the approval of the first wife and thereafter any sons by the concubine are treated in the same manner as sons by the first wife.