The Chawanon Indians, inhabiting the lake of Marcotti, and who are
considered the most warlike and civilized of the American Indians, have
a manner of courtship which we believe to be peculiar to themselves.
When such of their young women as have pretensions to beauty, attain
their twelfth year, which is the usual period of their marriage, they
either keep themselves quite secluded at home, or when they go out muffle
themselves up in such a manner, that nothing is seen but their eyes. On
these indications of beauty, they are eagerly sought in marriage, and
those suitors who have acquired the greatest reputation as warriors or
hunters, obtain the consent of the family. After this, the lover repairs
to the cabin, where the beauty is lying enveloped on her couch. He gently
approaches and uncovers her face, so that his person may be seen, and
if this be to her mind, she invites him to lie down by her side; if not,
she again conceals her face, and the lover retires. A husband has the
privilege of marrying all his wife’s sisters as they arrive at age, so
that after, often before, his first wife is thirty, he has married and
abandoned at least a dozen.