THE WESTERN DENES. 123 



married. If not, then the recipient of his favors was bound to return 

 an equivalent in kind. 



Naturally enough, after having won his wife at such a cost, the 

 young husband was not ready to reject her without sufficient pro- 

 vocation, and it may easily be conjectured that the prospect of having 

 to recommence anew a protracted courtship, must have tended not a 

 little to render the matrimonial tie, if not sacred, at least more dur- 

 able among the Carriers than it was among the Sekanais. However, 

 it nuist be said that in case the wooing party was well connected, the 

 procedure ])revious to acceptance was somewhat curtailed, and fre- 

 quently almost entirely dispensed with. 



Polygamy flourislied to a great extent among all of the tribes. The 

 more exalted the man's rank, the more numerous would be his wives. 

 The father of the present chief of this {)lace (Fort St. James, Stuart's 

 Lake) had as many as six wives at one time. Nevertheless, there 

 was always one, not necessarily the first in priority of co-habitation, 

 who was regarded as superioi* to the others whom she then called her 

 younger sisters, receiving in return the title of elder sister from them. 

 Even jDolyandry was in honoi;r conjointly with polygamy among the 

 Sekanais; but remained unknown to the Cai'riers. 



A peculiarity perhaps worthy of notice is that an ludian woman 

 will never say " my husband " when referring to her mate ; but will 

 invariably say " he " or " this child's father." Even men are quite as 

 prudish and will seldom be caught .saying '' my wife " in speaking of 

 their partner. Likewise both men and women feel a great reluctance 

 to tell their names and will generally rather use a round about de- 

 scription than the appropriate vocative. 



VI. 



I need hardly say that among the Denes the status of woman after 

 marriage was seldom preferable to her previous condition. For I take 

 it to be granted that^among most of the non-Christian peoples of the 

 day, as well as the various nations of antiquity, woman, under one 

 fonn or another, is, and has ever been, very little short of her lord 

 and master's slave. While still a girl, she had of course, to i-ender 

 her mother such menial assistance as lay in her power ; but then she 



