THE MARRIAGE LAWS.
The Klamath Indians intermarry to some extent with the surrounding
tribes. The upper and lower divisions of the Klamath tribes marry very
freely, being the same tribe, with the exception that their language
is different. The two divisions are so closely associated with each
other that many of our people speak both languages fluently. It was
always considered a good marriage for a man of the lower division to
marry a woman of the upper division, or a man of the upper division to
marry a woman of the lower division, but they always preferred to marry
outside their own division if possible, as they were not so liable to
marry relations. It was not considered good to marry relations, even to
fifth and sixth cousins, as their law taught them that marrying blood
relations was a crime against posterity. It was considered a crime
for parents to bring demented or deformed children into the world.
By marriage they keep a close trace of their relationship, the woman
never loses her identity by marrying, as she takes the name of her
husband and the husband takes the name of his wife, as the following
will illustrate: a Trinidad woman marries a man of the Pec-wan village,
the Indian name of which is Cho-ri, therefore the woman is Cho-ri
woman, and they call her husband after marriage Cho-rosh; the husband
is a Pec-wan man, therefore they call the wife after him and call her
Pec-wish-on. The children are called Pec-wan-alth, and are always
addressed by these names which remind them that their mother is a
Cho-ri woman, and their father a Pec-wan. This custom is followed so
that they can trace out their relationship exactly for generations.
Occasionally a Talth will marry the daughter of a wealthy family,
however, they are very careful in selecting their wives, as they
usually marry into the Talth families, if they can marry where there
is no relationship. Some of the very rich men had plural wives, or as
many wives as they cared to support, but the average Indian had but one
wife. There has been some instances of plural marriages since the white
man made his appearance on the Klamath River, one of which I will make
special mention of. This Indian who had made eleven women his wives,
was born under the very lowest marriage laws, at the Wah-teck village
and was known as Ca-wah-ter; his parents were extremely poor, living
in poverty and squalor at the Wah-tec village, where they raised a
large family of children. The romance of his parents was very pathetic
as they had nothing to give in exchange of the marriage vows, except
some manzanita berries. The exchange of food-stuffs in the marriage
ceremony is considered the very lowest of marriages that could be
called a marriage. From this lowly marriage were born several brothers
and one sister, Ga-wah-ter and his brothers, when they had grown into
manhood, were all industrious and became good managers in securing
wealth, as the bitter taunts of the poverty of their parents urged
them on to greater ambitions. While they were children, the children
of the middle and wealthy class would not associate with or play with
them, always being coldly shunned by the other children and looked down
upon as unworthy of respect. Children of the wealthier class would
always make insinuations that the brothers and sister of this family
were born under the very lowest of marriage, that their parents were
nothing, hardly worthy of notice. These children grew up almost in
desperation, being despised so much for their poverty, and the storms
of insinuations were continually hurled at them in defiance, to become
anything better, where their birth was so lowly. When they reached
manhood, they were stricken with remorse because of their lowly birth
right, their parents were both born of good birth, their families
having at one time a good deal of wealth before they were married so
unfortunately. With that remorse of poverty sunken deep into their
hearts these young men started out in the pursuit of the Indian life to
hunt, trap, fish and accumulate all the wealth they could possibly get.
Early and late the brothers were always at work, as great ambitions
spurred them on to accumulate vast riches, and rise up from the lowly
depths, where they had been so despised. They worked and banked their
wealth together until they became very rich, then they separated
and married, each taking his portion of the wealth as they went to
different places to make homes for their families.
Ga-wah-ter, with renewed energies every time he thought of the bitter
stings of his early boyhood years and struggles, determined to become
one of the richest men on the lower Klamath River. His prayers were
so sincere, his ambitions so great, his toil so earnest, that his
reward came after the weary years of struggle, for he was now one
of the richest men the Klamath River had known for generations. He
rose to power and greatness from a miserable down-trodden child. Now
his triumphs were supreme, for he had crowned himself with success
and everlasting power, and could now look down upon those who had
scorned him so much in his youth, for they could never be so rich as
he. When his vast fortune was made, eleven wives shared his home at
Ser-e-goin village, where he spent most of his wedded life. His first
wife belonged to the upper division of the Klamath Indians, and was
the romantic bride of his life, as he had given to her the love of his
young manhood, and his tender devotion was hers throughout the years
of their wedded life. When the ten other brides had come to dwell in
their home, she remained his constant companion and counselor of the
household. One to five children were born to all the wives except the
first wife. Sometimes the wives would all get to quarreling and become
very insolent to one another, when the husband would appear upon the
scene and whip them all, except his first wife, he never punished her
as he loved her more than all the rest.
For many years, with riches, wives and children around him, he was a
powerful member of the Klamath Indians. As he grew old, family troubles
arose among his relatives and sons, which resulted in bloodshed and
loss of lives. One day, under the excitement of all these troubles, he
started to swim across the river as no canoe was at hand, and while
swimming across at Ser-e-goin village severe cramps overtook his
already tired body, and he met the tragic death of drowning. A very
large family of children were left fatherless, and the wives separated
off from the home at Ser-e-goin, each one taking her own children.
Some of these children are alive yet and have a great deal of wealth.
This closes the summary of one of the plural marriages of the Klamath
Indians.
Some of the Talth had plural wives, but they always married the first
wife by the highest marriage ceremony, so that the children born under
this marriage would be eligible to be admitted to the sacred lodge.
As before, the husband takes the wife’s name and is always addressed
by her name, while the wife is addressed by the husband’s name, an
exchange of names as well as the exchange of marriage vows. The other
women that may be married to a Talth, under the plural marriage, are
not married by the highest marriage laws, therefore, their children
can never be admitted to the sacred lodge. Plural marriages among the
Talth are very seldom, and a Talth under no circumstances will marry a
slave, or any one of the low class. The Talth usually select their wife
or husband with great care from the families of high birth. When they
marry they live very happily, and are devoted to their families. They
were never known to gamble or drink the white man’s whiskey, their soul
being free from all temptations. I will here illustrate the devotion of
one of the Talth marriages. This Talth was of a very wealthy family of
the Pec-wan village, who married a woman of the Tu-rep village. Under
the Indian laws of marriage, the husband took his wife’s name and was
known as Tur-rep-ah-wah and the wife was known as Pec-wish-on. After
they had been married for two or three years the wife contracted a
chronic illness, which made her almost a helpless invalid for a number
of years, and the devoted husband would cook, wash, sweep and attend to
all the household duties. He remained by the side of his sick wife day
and night, administering to her every want, lead her tenderly about,
take her in his canoe for long boat rides on the river, that she might
get the fresh air and grow strong again. He secured the very best
Indian Doctors for her, and payed all the doctor bills during all the
years of her illness. His kind patience and attentions towards her,
never failed him, as he continued in this way, giving up all his time
to his wife for a number of years, until at last, with all his effort,
he succeeded in almost making her well, and she is yet alive. He lived
for a few years, then died leaving her a widow.
The Talth marriage is a long ceremony, where a great deal of wealth
is exchanged between the two families of the bride and groom. This
ceremony is principally performed by the Indian money, cheek, which is
a long slender shell, conical in shape and is inclined to be curved.
It is about one and a half to two and a quarter inches in length,
and is valued according to its length, and longer the shell the more
value it is. This money is measured by the rings of the joints of the
middle finger from the inside of the left hand, and it takes twelve
pieces of cheek to make one string, which is called cor-ton-a. In
stringing the cheek they put the two large ends together and the two
small ends together, this is done to prevent the shells from cupping
inside. In estimating the value of a string of cheek, we hold one end
of the string between the fore-finger and thumb-nail of the left hand,
drawing it tightly up the arm towards the shoulder, keeping the arm
extended straight. Ten of the cheek on the string are measured in this
way, not measuring the two which makes twelve on the string, as the
twelve only make ten, according to our numeration; we do not count the
extra two cheek on the string as we wish to give full value, so that
no one will be able to find any fault as to the value of the string.
In measuring the cheek a tattoo is made on the arm where the end of
the string comes, so they can easily detect if any of the cheek has
been exchanged, should it happen to be handled by different persons.
In marriage the young Talth gives twelve strings of this cheek to the
parents of his bride, as it is the real Indian money that we brought
from the old land of Cheek-cheek-alth, the parents give in exchange
other valuable articles to their son-in-law. The elder Talth always
attend these high marriages, bringing with them the herb, walth-pay,
with which they give the benediction to the bridal couple, in wishing
them peace, love, happiness and success.
The children born under these marriages are selected by the Talth and
are given the opportunity to become a Talth. A Talth is very reserved
and never advances to meet anyone who is a stranger that is inquiring
into our traditions. Our traditions and religion are too sacred to
be expounded before strangers of another race, therefore the white
man has received most of his allegory from the lower classes of the
Indians. This type of Indian readily gives the fairy tales of the
tribe, such as mothers and grandmothers tell to the little children for
their amusement, and these are the stories that the white man is made
to believe as the true traditions and religion of the Indian. These
stories are no more like the traditions and religion of the Indian
than daylight is like night.
There is another marriage law that is termed among the Indians as,
“half married.” The prospective husband gives but a small sum of
articles, of little value, and receives in return a few articles of
little value. In this marriage the husband is taken to the wife’s home
to live, or in the same house with her parents, and the wife, in this
marriage, is the head of the household and the husband is compelled
to obey her in whatever she commands him to do. He is compelled to
fish, hunt, work and support her folks just as much as he supports his
wife, while the wife teaches the children and rules them absolutely,
as the husband has no right to correct his own children or make them
mind in any way. When these children become men and women they must
marry according to their mother’s wishes, as the husband has nothing
to say as to their conduct, or pursuits of happiness in life. However
unpleasant it may seem to him, he must bear it all with patience and
silence. If he refuses to obey his wife and children, she can make his
surroundings in home life very unpleasant for him, and if he wishes to
dissolve the marriage vows and she is willing, he has nothing to do but
to walk out of the house, as his wife guides the children and rules
the household, and owns everything that belongs to him, except his own
individual life, even his own children acknowledge him as their father
in flesh and blood, but no more.
There is a slave marriage where, they being absolute paupers, having no
home of their own and no articles to exchange in the marriage ceremony,
they are married by the exchange of food-stuffs, and this is considered
to be the lowest marriage that could be called a marriage. When they
have a divorce they do not have much trouble in separating as articles
are given back by their masters and a settlement is usually made easy.
In some of the Indian marriages, they do not mate happily. After they
have been married a short time, or even a number of years, serious
trouble arises and results in a final separation, and when such a
separation is agreed upon, and there are no children, all the valuables
exchanged at the marriage alter are returned accordingly. If there
are children and the father wants them to remain legitimate he must
be very careful in counting out the valuables or the wealth that he
wants returned from his wife’s people. He must divide a portion of the
wealth that he gave to his wife’s people on his wedding day, to each
child, the remaining portion is given back to him. If all the valuables
of exchange between the contracting parties are returned to him or his
people, this leaves the children as bastards, without a law to protect
them from slanderous tongues and no rights to a legitimate birth.
These children are forever looked down upon by the Indian society,
as bastards without a marriage to legalize them as the off-spring of
respectable parents. I can truthfully say that in the past twenty-five
years, and more, since the advent of the white man among the Klamath
Indians, that most of the white men have married under the half married
system, until there are no Indian marriage laws. The “squaw” gives her
“white buck” her home and supports his low born half breed children,
while he idles his time away on the Indian ranches or lies about in
a drunken stupor. Yet these same white men cry, is there no redress
for the Indian, has he no soul to save? Oh, not a soul to save under
these conditions. But why do these white men hang around the Indian
ranches and reservations, living off the toils of the Indian? There
is a pathetic story in this nefarious business of human lives. The
Indian himself has followed pursuit after his white brethren in the
half married system, or not marrying at all, until there is no sacred
marriage tie. This shows positively, that the Indian laws are forever
lost. Education is the only way out of these difficulties, for those
who have had an opportunity to attend the schools have married under
the laws of the United States, and these laws must be enforced, since
all the Indian laws have been abolished by the degenerate white men. I
trust the day is not far distant when the degenerate white man will no
longer be tolerated to camp on the reservations and leave in his path
the ruination of human lives.
Before the appearance of the white man, the marriage of the middle and
wealthy classes were considered sacred, the most sacred ties that could
bind a human being for the cause of the future generation. Divorces
were considered a disgrace upon posterity and a shame upon moral
society, therefore, divorces were few and far between. When a divorce
cause was pleaded, usually trouble ensued that resulted in bloodshed
before the case would be settled. These divorces sometimes left the
birth of the children for slanderous tongues to assail, and when these
children became of age they would resent bitterly the action of their
father and mother, and the feud would be renewed, sometimes for several
generations before a final settlement would be made. Divorces among the
Indians were very difficult to obtain, as it was ruinous to posterity,
and a menace upon society. Among the Talth divorces were unknown.