234 INDIAN WOOING. 
prenticeship is exacted, in hunting or otherwise, 
from the bridegroom. 
A. (Tolmie.)—The suitor does not court, but . 
when he has made a selection he sends his 
mother or aunt to the damsel with a proposal, 
to which she made no reply. The parents 
are then referred to, and should they have 
consented, the suitor watches for the damsel 
at the accustomed watering place and proposes 
to her. The consent being given, the suitor, 
accompanied by his friends, dressed in their best, 
and driving loose horses, goes to the parents’ 
lodge. They then strip off their, fine clothes, 
obtaining old ones in return, and allow the 
bride’s friends to select horses from the band 
driven up. Soon after, the bride’s friends, ar- 
rayed in their best, carry the bride on a robe to 
her future husband’s lodge, and exchanging there 
their good clothes for old ones, leave without 
making any return for the horses received. 
Should the woman be badly used by her husband 
she is taken home by her mother or aunt, the 
father and brothers scrupulously avoiding inter- 
ference. Interchange of presents is the inva- 
riable rule, a preponderance going to the bride’s 
parents. At Milbank the ceremonies, which are 
tedious, are performed on a platform resting on 
