The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft

time, he was joined by the other chiefs, who, forming a circle, danced round him, accompanied by the rattling of turtle-shells filled with small stones. When this ceremony was over he was publicly acknowledged chief.

As I said before, the chief had little actual authority over individuals; neither was the real power vested in the heads of families; but a system of influencing the people was adopted by the chief and the elders, which is somewhat singular. Whenever an important step was to be taken, such as the killing of a malefactor, or the invasion of an enemy's territory, the sympathies of the people were enlisted by means of criers, who were sent round to proclaim aloud the crime and the criminal, or to dilate upon the wrongs suffered at the hands of the hostile tribe; and their eloquence seldom failed to attain the desired object.589

      MARRIAGE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

The chief could have a plurality of wives, but the common people were only allowed one.590 The form of contracting a marriage varied. In Los Angeles County, according to Mr. Reid, the matter was arranged by a preliminary interchange of presents between the male relatives of the bridegroom and the female relatives of the bride. The former proceeded in a body to the dwelling of the girl, and distributed small sums in shell money among her female kinsfolk, who were collected there for the occasion. These afterward returned the compliment by visiting the man and giving baskets of meal to his people. A time was then fixed for the final ceremony. On the appointed day the girl, decked in all her finery, and accompanied by her family and relations, was carried in the arms of one of her kinsfolk toward the house of her lover; edible seeds and berries were scattered before her on the way, which were scrambled for by the spectators. The party was met half-way by a deputation from the bridegroom, one of whom now took the young woman in his arms and carried her to the house of her husband, who waited expectantly. She was then placed by his side, and the guests, after scattering more seeds, left the couple alone. A great feast followed, of which the most prominent feature was a character-dance. The young men took part in this dance in the rôles of hunters and warriors, and were assisted by the old women, who feigned to carry off game, or dispatch wounded enemies, as the case might be. The spectators sat in a circle and chanted an accompaniment.

      According to another form of marriage the man either asked the girl's parents for permission to marry their daughter, or commissioned one of his friends to do so. If the parents approved, their future son-in-law took up his abode with them, on condition that he should provide a certain quantity of food every day. This was done to afford him an opportunity to judge of the domestic qualities of his future wife. If satisfied, he appointed a day for the marriage, and the ceremony was conducted much in the same manner as that last described, except that he received the girl in a temporary shelter erected in front of his hut, and that she was disrobed before being placed by his side.

      Children were often betrothed in infancy, kept continually in each other's society until they grew up, and the contract was scarcely ever broken. Many obtained their wives by abduction, and this was the cause of many of the inter-tribal quarrels in which they were so constantly engaged.

      If a man ill-treated his wife, her relations took her away, after paying back the value of her wedding presents, and then married her to another. Little difficulty was experienced in obtaining a divorce on any ground; indeed, in many of the tribes the parties separated whenever they grew tired of each other. Adultery was severely punished. If a husband caught his wife in the act, he was justified in killing her, or, he could give her up to her seducer and appropriate the spouse of the latter to himself.

      CHILD-BIRTH.

      At the time of child-birth many singular observances obtained; for instance, the old women washed the child as soon as it was born, and drank of the water; the unhappy infant was forced to take a draught of urine medicinally, and although the husband did not affect the sufferings of labor, his conduct was supposed in some manner to affect the unborn child, and he was consequently laid under certain restrictions, such as not being allowed to leave the house, or to eat fish and meat. The women as usual suffer little from child-bearing. One writer thus describes the accouchement of a woman in the vicinity of San Diego: "A few hours before the time arrives she gets up and quietly walks off alone, as if nothing extraordinary was about to occur. In this manner she deceives all, even her husband, and hides herself away in some secluded nook, near a stream or hole of water. At the foot of a small tree, which she can easily grasp with both hands, she prepares her 'lying-in-couch,' on which she lies down as soon as the labor pains come on. When the pain is on, she grasps the tree with both hands, thrown up backward over her head, and pulls and strains with all her might, thus assisting each pain, until her accouchement is over. As soon as the child is born, the mother herself ties the navel-cord with a bit of buck-skin string, severing it with a pair of sharp scissors, prepared for the occasion, after which the end is burned with a coal of fire; the child is then thrown into the water; if it rises to the surface and cries, it is taken out and cared for; if it sinks, there it remains, and is not even awarded an Indian burial. The affair being all over, she returns to her usual duties, just as if nothing had happened, so matter of fact are they in such matters." Purification at child-birth lasted for three days, during which time the mother was allowed no food, and no drink but warm water. The ceremony, in which mother and child participated, was as follows: In the centre of the hut a pit was filled with heated stones, upon which herbs were placed, and the whole covered with earth, except a small aperture through which water was introduced. The mother and child, wrapped in blankets, stood over the pit and were soon in a violent perspiration. When they became exhausted from the effect of the steam and the heated air, they lay upon the ground and were covered with earth, after which they again took to the heated stones and steam. The mother was allowed to eat no meat for two moons, after which pills made of meat and wild tobacco were given her. In some tribes she could hold no intercourse with her husband until the child was weaned.

      Children, until they arrived at the age of puberty, remained under the control of their parents, afterward they were subject only to the chief. Like the Spartan youth, they were taught that abstinence, and indifference to hardship and privations, constitute the only true manhood. To render them hardy much unnecessary pain was inflicted. They were forbidden to approach the fire to warm themselves, or to eat certain seeds and berries which were considered luxuries.

      A youth, to become a warrior, must first undergo a severe ordeal; his naked body was beaten with stinging nettles until he was literally unable to move; then he was placed upon the nest of a species of virulent ant, while his friends irritated the insects by stirring them up with sticks. The infuriated ants swarmed over every part of the sufferer's body, into his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his nose, causing indescribable pain.

Boscana states that the young were instructed to love truth, to do good, and to venerate old age.592 At an early age they were placed under the protection of a tutelar divinity, which was supposed to take the form of some animal. To discover the particular beast which was to guide his future destinies, the child was intoxicated,593 and for three or four days kept without food of any kind. During this period he was continually harassed and questioned, until, weak from want of food, crazed with drink and importunity, and knowing that the persecution would not cease until he yielded, he confessed to seeing his divinity, and described what kind of brute it was. The outline of the figure was then molded in a paste made of crushed herbs, on the breast and arms of the novitiate. This was ignited and allowed to burn until entirely consumed, and thus the figure of the divinity remained indelibly delineated in the flesh. Hunters, before starting on an expedition, would beat their faces with nettles to render them clear-sighted. A girl, on arriving at the age of puberty, was laid upon a bed of branches placed over a hole, which had been previously heated, where she was kept with very little food for two or three days. Old women chanted songs, and young women danced round her at intervals during her purification. In the vicinity of San Diego the girl is buried all but her head, and the ground above her is beaten until she is in a profuse perspiration. This is continued for twenty-four hours, the patient being at intervals during this time taken