The dress or costume is nearly the same for men and women. It is simple, neat, and convenient, and serves unchanged for both winter and summer, hot and cold, wet and dry, day and night. That of the young females consists of a robe or garment of deer-skin, down to their ankles, well dressed, and soft as chamois, with long, wide sleeves, fringed and ornamented with beads, and the more valuable higuas with a belt around the waist, adorned with the teeth of animals, beads, and trinkets, and is far from being unbecoming. Leggings, or Indian stockings, trimmed with all the showy ornaments of Indian fancy; shoes, and a loose robe of deer-skin, thrown carelessly round the body, constitute the whole of their dress at all seasons of the year. While new, white, and clean, it has a pleasing appearance; nor does clothing of our manufacture ever become an Indian woman so well as her own {297} native dress; but as they have no change of clothing, nor any bedclothes excepting an additional skin thrown over them, their garments soon become shabby and unsightly. A new garment once put on remains until it is either worn to rags, or rotten with grease and filth on their backs. Those, however, worn by young people of a certain age, both male and female, are frequently bestowed on their elders when half worn, and replaced by another new suit; so that the younger folks of good circumstances are always well dressed and clean.
The men’s garments seldom descend below the knee; and in lieu of being ornamented like those of the women, with gaudy trinkets, they are wrought and garnished in a very fanciful manner with porcupine quills. During winter the men wear long detached sleeves or mittens up to their shoulders, made of the wolf or fox skins, which are united or fastened together by a string across the shoulders. While on their hunting excursions, they also wear caps made of the skins of the wolf or bear, with the ears erect; their heads being thus metamorphosed into wolves’ or bears’ heads, they are enabled to approach the game with greater facility. But it is not the head alone that is masked or disguised: I have seen a fellow get into a deer-skin, stripped for the purpose, with the skin of the head and horns complete, walk off on all fours, and get actually among a herd of deer without their taking notice of the deception. But the wolf is the animal they {298} seem to imitate the best. An Indian concealed in a wolf’s hide, pulls the skin of the wolf’s head, with the face, eyes, and nose entire, over his own head, the ears erect, and tail in its proper place, will walk, run, and frisk about on his hands and feet, so that he can scarcely be distinguished from the real animal itself. There is no bird nor beast of which they cannot imitate the voice so as to decoy it within their reach. Hunting is a favourite exercise with all Indians; and the Oakinackens are very fond of displaying their dexterity in riding, and decoying the animals of the chase. All classes of them paint the face, particularly the young. Painting, and dressing, and decking the hair, is their chief glory; but they are nowise particular about other parts of their persons.
{299} CHAPTER XIX
Marriage contracts—National custom—Exchange of presents—Nocturnal visits—The object—Purchasing the bride—Customs on the occasion—Feuds and quarrels—Tla-quill-augh, or Indian doctor—His office—Precarious life—Mode of paying him—Manner of treating the sick—Customs and ceremonies on the occasion—Hard duty—Superstitions—Knowledge of roots and herbs—Curing wounds—Diseases, or general complaints—Gambling—Tsill-all-a-come, or the national game—Manner of playing it—Bets—Gambling propensities—Hot baths—Manner of using them—On what occasions—Indian qualifications—Gymnastic exercise—Comparison—General remarks.
We now come to the mode of courtship and the rites of marriage observed among these people. The law of the land, or rather the established custom of the country is, that parents betroth or promise their children in marriage while they are still very young; and these contracts are in most cases held valid when the minors come of age.
When a marriage alliance is thus entered into between parties on behalf of their infant children, reciprocal presents exchanged immediately between them serve as a seal to the marriage contract. These {300} presents are occasionally repeated afterwards; but not by both parties, as in the first instance. The friends of the young woman cease to give, but are always ready to receive what the friends of the young man may from time to time choose to bestow, until the parties come of age. What these presents consist of is immaterial, and depends on the means of the parties. Sometimes horses, or a horse, or a dressed skin, or a few trinkets of but little value; but as soon as the young man attains the age of fourteen or fifteen years, and the young woman that of eleven or twelve, he then goes and pays his addresses to her in person; which is done in this way:—After the people are all in bed, the young man goes to the lodge or wigwam of his intended bride, enters it in the dark, makes a small fire, and sits by it till he is observed by some of the inmates. The whisper then goes round. If he be welcome, the girl’s mother gets up, and without speaking to the young man herself, she awakens her daughter, who sits up with him by the fire; but the matron immediately retires to rest, leaving the young couple by themselves. During the tête-à-tête, no person in the lodge ever interrupts them. The interview is not long: the young man then departs, and the girl retires to rest again. These visits are repeated some three or four times, or more; and if the suitor be welcomed on every occasion, all goes on well. He then goes in the day time, pretty sure of success, to his intended father-in-law, accompanied by some {301} near relative, and bringing with him the purchase-money; that is, horses, robes, skins, and trinkets, more or less, according to the rank of the parties. On arrival they sit down opposite to the door of the lodge. If invited in, all is well; then the pipe of peace is smoked; one side of the lodge is put in order; a new mat is spread out, and the young man seated thereon. The young woman is then brought by her father and mother, each taking her by an arm, and placed near her intended husband. They are thenceforth considered lawfully married. This done, the pipe of peace is again produced; and during the ceremony of smoking, the father-in-law and young man’s relative expatiate on the worth of their respective families; after which the parties regale, the bridegroom’s companion returns home, and the whole business is ended.
Now in all cases of first marriage the wife must be purchased by her husband; for there is no greater disgrace to a family than for a parent to give his daughter away in marriage for nothing, as they call it. In this, as in many other instances, the custom here is exactly the reverse of that which prevails in civilized life; for in place of giving a portion with the daughter, the parents require a portion for her; and the nobler the family the greater must be the donation, for the quality of the bride is on all occasions measured by the price paid for her by the husband. I have seen, however, the property tendered more than once refused; nor is {302} it uncommon to increase the offer once or twice till it is accepted. We have now shown the fair and natural side of the question, and shall next turn to take a view of the reverse side.
It sometimes happens that the plighted virgin rejects the parents’ choice. The parents themselves also change their sentiments in this case; and the young woman marries, not the person she was betrothed to, but another. This never fails to produce feuds and quarrels between the families concerned; the tide of animosity runs high—so high, sometimes, that the tribe splits into two portions, which separate from each other, perhaps permanently.
We need not touch on second or subsequent marriages; they are made and unmade according to circumstances, whim, or fancy, without being subject to any other law than the will of the parties themselves.
We now come to a rather mysterious part of our subject, which I could never rightly understand, and therefore we do not expect to guide the reader satisfactorily through this labyrinth of superstition and jugglery. It refers to a class of functionaries called medicine-men, or priests, or perhaps, what would be nearer the true meaning, conjurors; for I know not exactly which of these terms would be the most applicable to them, as the class of men to which we allude act occasionally in all these capacities. They are called Tla-quill-aughs, which signifies, in their language, men of supernatural gifts, who pretend to {303} know all things, and can kill and cure by magic whom they please. Among the whites they go by the name of doctors or jugglers.