Traditions of the North American Indians (Vol. 1-3). James Athearn Jones

the Iroquois, Miamis, &c. treaties of marriage are entirely carried on by the parents; the parties interested do not appear at all, but give themselves up entirely to the will of those on whom they depend. The parents, however, do not conclude any thing without their consent, but this is only a formality. The first advances must be made by the matrons. Not but that, if any girl were to continue too long without being sued for, her family would act underhand to procure her a suitor.

      In some places the young man is contented to go and sit by the side of the young woman in her cabin; and, if she suffers it and continues in her place, it is taken for her consent, and the marriage is concluded. The customs of the different tribes do not essentially vary. What should you say, my fair readers, at being "wooed and won" in this way?

      (7) Indian farm of marriage.—p. 156.

      The Indian nations differ but little from each other in their marriage ceremonies. The tribes that inhabit the borders of Canada have the following custom:—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 usual at any of their public rejoicings. When these are finished, all those who attended merely out of ceremony depart, and the bridegroom and the bride are left alone with three or four of the nearest and oldest relations on either side; those of the bridegroom being men, and 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      Presently the bride, attended by these few friends, having withdrawn herself for the purpose, appears at one of the doors of the house, and is led to the bridegroom, who stands ready to receive her.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 they 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 as she entered, where her young companions wait to attend her to her father's house; there the bridegroom is obliged to seek her.

      Another manner of performing the ceremony is said to be peculiar to the Naudowessies. 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 tents. He accordingly accepts their 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 can provide for the support of his daughter and the children that might be the consequence of their union. 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 into 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 intention of living together as man and wife. He then asks the young people alternately whether they desire that the union may take place. Having declared, with an audible voice, that they do so, the warriors fix their arrows, and discharge them over the needs of the married pair; this done, the chief pronounces them man and wife. The bridegroom then turns around, and, bending his body, takes his wife upon his back, in which manner he carries her, amidst the acclamations of the spectators, to his tent. The ceremony is concluded by the most plentiful feast the new-married man can afford, and songs and dances, according to the usual custom, conclude the festival.

      Among the Quapaws, as I have been informed, the husband, on the consummation of his marriage, presents his wife with a leg of deer, and she in return offers him an ear of maize.

      THE IDOLS.

       Table of Contents

      A TRADITION OF THE RICARAS.

      "Whither goest thou, valiant warrior?

       Whither goest thou, Son of the Beaver?

       Man whom the Mahas fear;

       Man whom the Pawnees shun;

       Man of the red and painted cheek;

       Man of the fierce and fearful shout;

       Whither goest thou?"

       "I go to make an offering,

       I go to give to the Idols a bow,

       An arrow, and a spear,

       The Man, and Woman, and Dog of Stone,

       That stand on the willow bank,

       On the willow bank, that o'erlooks the stream,

       The shallow and turbid stream;

       I go to ask that my heart may be made,

       Like the heart of the panther, fierce and stout,

       And my soul as clean as the soul of a child,

       And my foot as swift as the foot of a buck,

       That victory may be mine,

       That the pole of my lodge may bend with scalps,

       And the song of my lips

       Be the song of a Brave,

       Who sings of bright deeds in the ears of his tribe."

       "Go! Warrior, go!"

      "Whither goest thou, Hunter?

       Whither goest thou, keen eyed-man?

       Man whom the Beaver fears;

       Man whom the Panther shuns;

       Man of the fleet and ardent foot,

       And the firm and patient heart,

       And the never blanching-cheek,

       Whither goest thou?"

       "I go to make an offering,

       I go to give to the Idols flesh,

       The juicy flesh of the elk,

       The Man, and Woman, and Dog of Stone,

       That stand on the willow bank,

       On the willow bank that o'erlooks the stream,

       The shallow and turbid stream;

       I go to ask that my eye maybe true

       To follow the trail of the deer,

       And to lead in the fox's track,

       And strong my arm to send the dart

       To the life of the bison-ox,

       And stout my heart, when I list to the growl

       Of the cubs in the panther's den."

       "Go! Hunter, go!"

      "Whither goest thou, Priest?

       Man of wisdom, whither goest thou?

       Man that commun'st with the Voice³⁵, And notest the lightning's words; Man that hast knowledge of things unseen By the eye of thy brothers, Whither goest thou?"

      "I go to make an offering:

       I go to lay my magic robe,

       My shaggy hide of the old black bear,

       Before the Idols,

       The Man, and Woman, and Dog of Stone,

       That stand on the willow bank,