CHAPTER XII.

_Of their_ MARRIAGE CEREMONIES, _&c._

THE Indians allow of polygamy, and persons of every rank indulge themselves in this point. The chiefs in particular have a seraglio, which consists of an uncertain number, usually from six to twelve or fourteen. The lower ranks are permitted to take as many as there is a probability of their being able, with the children they may bear, to maintain. It is not uncommon for an Indian to marry two sisters; sometimes, if there happen to be more, the whole number; and notwithstanding this (as it appears to civilized nations) unnatural union, they all live in the greatest harmony.

The younger wives are submissive to the elder; and those who have no children, do such menial offices for those who are fertile, as causes their situation to differ but little from a state of servitude. However they perform every injunction with the greatest cheerfulness, in hopes of gaining thereby the affection of their husband, that they in their turns may have the happiness of becoming mothers, and be intitled to the respect attendant on that state.

It is not uncommon for an Indian, although he takes to himself so many wives, to live in a state of continence with many of them for several years. Such as are not so fortunate as to gain the favour of their husband by their submissive and prudent behaviour, and by that means to share in his embraces, continue in their virgin state during the whole of their lives, except they happen to be presented by him to some stranger chief, whose abode among them will not admit of his entering into a more lasting connection. In this case they submit to the injunction of their husband without murmuring, and are not displeased at the temporary union. But if at any time it is known that they take this liberty without first receiving his consent, they are punished in the same manner as if they had been guilty of adultery.

This custom is more prevalent among the nations which lie in the interior parts, than among those that are nearer the settlements, as the manners of the latter are rendered more conformable in some points to those of the Europeans, by the intercourse they hold with them.

The Indian nations differ but little from each other in their marriage ceremonies, and less in the manner of their divorces. The tribes that inhabit the borders of Canada, make use of the following custom.

When a young Indian has fixed his inclinations on one of the other sex, he endeavours to gain her consent, and if he succeeds, it is never known that her parents ever obstruct their union. When every preliminary is agreed on, and the day appointed, the friends and acquaintance of both parties assemble at the house or tent of the oldest relation of the bridegroom, where a feast is prepared on the occasion.

The company who meet to assist at the festival are sometimes very numerous; they dance, they sing, and enter into every other diversion usually made use of on any of their public rejoicings. When these are finished, all those who attended merely out of ceremony depart, and the bridegroom and bride are left alone with three or four of the nearest and oldest relations of either side; those of the bridegroom being men, those of the bride, women.

Presently the bride, attended by these few friends, having withdrawn herself for the purpose, appears at one of the doors of the house, and is led to the bridegroom, who stands ready to receive her. Having now taken their station on a mat placed in the centre of the room, they lay hold of the extremities of a wand about four feet long, by which they continue separated, whilst the old men pronounce some short harangues suitable to the occasion.

The married couple after this make a public declaration of the love and regard they entertain for each other, and still holding the rod between them, dance and sing. When they have finished this part of the ceremony, they break the rod into as many pieces as there are witnesses present, who each take a piece, and preserve it with great care.

The bride is then re-conducted out of the door at which she entered, where her young companions wait to attend her to her father’s house; there the bridegroom is obliged to seek her, and the marriage is consummated. Very often the wife remains at her father’s house till she has a child, when she packs up her apparel, which is all the fortune she is generally possessed of, and accompanies her husband to his habitation.

When from any dislike a separation takes place, for they are seldom known to quarrel, they generally give their friends a few days notice of their intentions, and sometimes offer reasons to justify their conduct. The witnesses who were present at the marriage, meet on the day requested at the house of the couple that are about to separate, and bringing with them the pieces of rod which they had received at their nuptials, throw them into the fire in the presence of all the parties.

This is the whole of the ceremony required, and the separation is carried on without any murmurings or ill-will between the couple or their relations; and after a few months they are at liberty to marry again.

When a marriage is thus dissolved, the children which have been produced from it, are equally divided between them; and as children are esteemed a treasure by the Indians, if the number happens to be odd, the woman is allowed to take the better half.

Though this custom seems to encourage fickleness and frequent separations, yet there are many of the Indians who have but one wife, and enjoy with her a state of connubial happiness not to be exceeded in more refined societies. There are also not a few instances of women preserving an inviolable attachment to their husbands, except in the cases before-mentioned, which are not considered as either a violation of their chastity or fidelity.

Although I have said that the Indian nations differ very little from each other in their marriage ceremonies, there are some exceptions. The Naudowessies have a singular method of celebrating their marriages, which seems to bear no resemblance to those made use of by any other nation I passed through. When one of their young men has fixed on a young woman he approves of, he discovers his passion to her parents, who give him an invitation to come and live with them in their tent.

He accordingly accepts the offer, and by so doing engages to reside in it for a whole year, in the character of a menial servant. During this time he hunts, and brings all the game he kills to the family; by which means the father has an opportunity of seeing whether he is able to provide for the support of his daughter and the children that might be the consequence of their union. This however is only done whilst they are young men, and for their first wife, and not repeated like Jacob’s servitudes.

When this period is expired, the marriage is solemnized after the custom of the country, in the following manner: Three or four of the oldest male relations of the bridegroom, and as many of the bride’s, accompany the young couple from their respective tents to an open part in the centre of the camp.

The chiefs and warriors being here assembled to receive them, a party of the latter are drawn up in two ranks on each side of the bride and bridegroom immediately on their arrival. The principal chief then acquaints the whole assembly with the design of their meeting, and tells them that the couple before them, mentioning at the same time their names, are come to avow publicly their intentions of living together as man and wife. He then asks the two young people alternately, whether they desire that the union might take place. Having declared with an audible voice that they do so, the warriors fix their arrows, and discharge them over the heads of the married pair; this done, the chief pronounces them man and wife.

The bridegroom then turns round, and bending his body, takes his wife on his back, in which manner he carries her amidst the acclamations of the spectators to his tent. This ceremony is succeeded by the most plentiful feast the new married man can afford, and songs and dances, according to the usual custom, conclude the festival.

Divorces happen so seldom among the Naudowessies, that I had not an opportunity of learning how they are accomplished.

Adultery is esteemed by them a heinous crime, and punished with the greatest rigour. The husband in these cases bites off the wife’s nose, and a separation instantly ensues. I saw an instance wherein this mode of punishment was inflicted, whilst I remained among them. The children, when this happens, are distributed according to the usual custom observed by other nations, that is, they are equally divided.

Among the Indian as well as European nations, there are many that devote themselves to pleasure, and notwithstanding the accounts given by some modern writers of the frigidity of an Indian constitution, become the zealous votaries of Venus. The young warriors that are thus disposed, seldom want opportunities for gratifying their passion; and as the mode usually followed on these occasions is rather singular, I shall describe it.

When one of these young debauchees imagines from the behaviour of the person he has chosen for his mistress, that he shall not meet with any great obstruction to his suit from her, he pursues the following plan.

It has been already observed, that the Indians acknowledge no superiority, nor have they any ideas of subordination, except in the necessary regulations of their war or hunting parties; they consequently live nearly in a state of equality pursuant to the first principles of nature. The lover therefore is not apprehensive of any check or controul in the accomplishment of his purposes if he can find a convenient opportunity for completing them.

As the Indians are also under no apprehension of robbers, or secret enemies, they leave the doors of their tents or huts unfastened during the night, as well as in the day. Two or three hours after sun-set, the slaves or old people cover over the fire, that is generally burning in the midst of their apartment, with ashes, and retire to their repose.

Whilst darkness thus prevails, and all is quiet, one of these sons of pleasure, wrapped up closely in his blanket to prevent his being known, will sometimes enter the apartment of his intended mistress. Having first lighted at the smothered fire a small splinter of wood, which answers the purpose of a match, he approaches the place where she reposes, and gently pulling away the covering from her head, jogs her till she awakes. If she then rises up, and blows out the light, he needs no further confirmation that his company is not disagreeable; but if, after he has discovered himself, she hides her head, and takes no notice of him, he might rest assured that any further solicitations will prove vain, and that it is necessary immediately for him to retire.

During his stay he conceals the light as much as possible in the hollow of his hands, and as the tents or rooms of the Indians are usually large and capacious, he escapes without detection. It is said that the young women who admit their lovers on these occasions, take great care, by an immediate application to herbs, with the potent efficacy of which they are well acquainted, to prevent the effects of these illicit amours from becoming visible; for should the natural consequences ensue, they must for ever remain unmarried.

The children of the Indians are always distinguished by the name of the mother; and if a woman marries several husbands, and has issue by each of them, they are all called after her. The reason they give for this is, that as their offspring are indebted to the father for their souls, the invisible part of their essence, and to the mother for their corporeal and apparent part, it is more rational that they should be distinguished by the name of the latter, from whom they indubitably derive their being, than by that of the father, to which a doubt might sometimes arise whether they are justly intitled.

There are some ceremonies made use of by the Indians at the imposition of the name, and it is considered by them as a matter of great importance; but what these are I could never learn, through the secresy observed on the occasion. I only know that it is usually given when the children have passed the state of infancy.

Nothing can exceed the tenderness shown by them to their offspring; and a person cannot recommend himself to their favour by any method more certain, than by paying some attention to the younger branches of their families. I can impute, in some measure, to the presents I made to the children of the chiefs of the Naudowessies, the hospitable reception I met with when among them.

There is some difficulty attends an explanation of the manner in which the Indians distinguish themselves from each other. Besides the name of the animal by which every nation and tribe is denominated, there are others that are personal, and which the children receive from their mother.

The chiefs are also distinguished by a name that has either some reference to their abilities, or to the hieroglyphick of their families; and these are acquired after they arrive at the age of manhood. Such as have signalized themselves either in their war or hunting parties, or are possessed of some eminent qualification, receive a name that serves to perpetuate the fame of these actions, or to make their abilities conspicuous.

Thus the great warrior of the Naudowessies was named Ottahtongoomlishcah, that is, the Great Father of Snakes; ottah being in English father, tongoom great, and lishcah a snake. Another chief was called Honahpawjatin, which means a swift runner over the mountains. And when they adopted me a chief among them, they named me Shebaygo, which signifies a writer, or a person that is curious in making hieroglyphicks, as they saw me often writing.