_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.