NORTH AMERICA 



54-9 



Photo by Rau, Phila. 



A. RIOBAMBA MUSICIAN, ECUADOR. 



mythological characteristic of the animal or object 

 taken as the totem. For example, in the buffalo 

 clan there may be a name signifying ' sitting 

 bull,' another 'standing bull,' still another 'mad 

 buffalo'; and names taken from the mythology 

 of the buffalo may be used. The clan name, 

 or totem, is used to distinguish the members of 

 one clan from the members of another. It is 

 never used in the first and second persons, but 

 always in the third person. In direct address the 

 kinship name expressing relative age must always 

 be used. Uncles in the clan are addressed as 

 fathers, cousins in the clan as brothers and sisters." 



The so-called taboo and such-like prohibitions 

 are used chiefly in connection with marriage; 

 marriage among members of the same clan or 

 gens being prohibited. Very curious is the prohi- 

 bition of communication between children-in-law 

 and parents-in-law. The names of the wife's 

 parents, for instance, are never uttered by the 

 husband; while the husband and the father-in-law 

 always avoid entering the same lodge, so far as 

 possible, and never even look on each other if 

 they can help it. Similarly the wife never addresses 

 her father-in-law. The adoption of these customs 

 in European society might be conducive to family 

 peace and quietness ! 



A plurality of wives is clearly of advantage to a good hunter, since, if he possess but one 

 squaw, her whole time must be devoted to household work, so that she is unable to dress 

 furs and such-like, whereby her husband cannot accumulate property. Such may be one 

 reason which has conduced to the general existence of polygamy among North American 

 tribes; another, perhaps, being the superabundance of women, owing to the frequency of inter- 

 tribal wars. Marriage is almost universally arranged by the purchase of the bride, with or 

 without her own consent, from the father. In the case of an unwilling bride marriage by 

 capture may have to be resorted to. Young people may, however, form mutual attachments 

 which are stronger than tribal law; in such cases their only course is to abscond and live 

 together in solitude as man and wife. If they maintain themselves there till the birth of a 

 child, the marriage becomes ipso facto legalised; and it is in this way alone that a "love 

 match " can be effected. 



As regards the dead, corpses among the Mandans were exposed on scaffolds, where they 

 were left till the bones were clean and dry; these latter being collected and buried, while 

 the skulls were arranged in large circles on the open prairie, each placed on a bunch of wild 

 sage. During the exposure of the bodies the scaffolds were frequently visited by the weeping 

 relatives. The dead, too, were supplied with food; while in the case of a murdered man the 

 corpse was often provided with a rope with which to bind his murderer in the next world. In 

 curious contrast to this attention to the dead was the practice of exposing the aged and feeble 

 (even when they were chiefs) to death by starvation, which formerly prevailed among the 

 Missouri Siouans. 



Another curious practice prevalent in Catlin's time on the lower parts of the Columbia, 

 and much earlier among the Choctaws and Chicasas, was that of flattening the heads of infants. 

 The unfortunate children were laid in a narrow wooden cradle, at the upper end of which 

 was a lid working on a hinge, this being pressed down upon the forehead and there fixed. 



