SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 113 



friends had prepared the presents they intended for his 

 wife's family, and had taken them to their house. It was 

 usual for the young couple to dwell with the wife's parents 

 for the term of a year, during which time the husband 

 was, as it were, a servant in the family, giving to his fa- 

 ther-in-law all the produce of his hunt. At the expiration 

 of this term, he was at liberty to remove his wife to his 

 own house, and treat her as he pleased. The opinion 

 which is entertained by the Missouri Indians, and by all 

 those who reside along the banks of the Mississippi, that it 

 would be the height of indecorum in a man to speak, or 

 even to look upon his son-in-law, does not exist at pre- 

 sent, and is believed never to have prevailed among the 

 Potawatomis. The power of the husband over his wife 

 was unlimited, he might even put her to death if he chose, 

 and she had lost all claim to the sympathy and protection 

 of her own relations. They never would resent any treat- 

 ment which she had been made to endure. There was no 

 fixed time for marrying; girls were sometimes betrothed 

 at a very early age, long before maturity. The presents 

 which it was customary to make, were of the most valua- 

 ble kind, and consisted of horses, venison, guns, &c. In 

 some instances it happened that the parties were mutually 

 attached, and that they contracted a secret engagement, 

 marrying w^ithout the consent of their parents. But these 

 breaches of ceremony were usually made up, by the inter- 

 change of presents between the parents on both sides, who 

 then confirmed the marriage. 



It was usual for them, when an Indian married one of 

 several sisters, to consider him as wedded to all ; and it 

 became incumbent upon him to take them all as wives. 

 The marrying of a brother's widow was not interdicted, 

 hut was always looked upon as a very improper connexion. 



Vol. T. 1 5 



