24 CHEPEWYANS. 



any show of courtship* was made, or that her 

 disinclination was allowed to interfere with the 

 man's determination to take her, if the parents 

 did not oppose. No ceremony attends the union. 

 Hearne says, that it is the established etiquette 

 among the Eastern 'Tinne for the woman to affect 

 unwillingness to change her condition, and for the 

 man to rush into her father's tent, and drag her off 

 by the hair of the head. We witnessed no scene of 

 this kind among the Dog-ribs, but more than once 

 saw a stronger man assert his right to take the wife 

 of a weaker countryman. Any one may challenge 

 another to wrestle, and, if he overcomes, may carry 

 off his wife as the prize. The younger children 

 generally follow the fortunes of the mother, but 

 the father may retain them if he chooses. In such 

 contests, it is suspected that the wife sometimes 

 prompts the aggressor ; but I have been told — for 

 I never actually witnessed one of these wrestling 

 matches — that she looks on with composure and 

 impartiality, and does not insult her late master 

 with a display of pride on being the object of such 

 a struggle, the causa teterrima belli. The bereaved 



* The term "dear," or "beloved," is said to be unknown 

 in the language ; and Captain Lefroy, who tried to ascertain 

 if it was so, says, " I endeavoured to put this intelligibly to 

 Nannette, by supposing such an expression as ma chere femme ; 

 ma chere fille. When at length she understood it, her reply 

 was (with great emphasis), " T disent jamais ca ; ? disent ma 

 femme; ma fille" 



