66 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



custom by which if there were more than one sister 

 in a family the husband of one took them all. This 

 does not appear to have been the case with the 

 Hurons and Iroquois ; but even among them if the 

 sister first married died the husband was obliged 

 to marry a surviving sister, or if there were none some 

 other wife provided by the family of the deceased, 

 unless he wished to expose himself to insults from the 

 rejected lady. On the other hand if a husband died 

 without children his brother had to supply his place. 

 Marriages were negotiated by the parents, and the 

 matrons took the lead. The parties most concerned 

 were indeed consulted, but their consent was a mere 

 formality. In some places the girls were by no means 

 in a hurry to marry, because they had full liberty 

 in their amours, and marriage only changed their 

 condition to render it harder. The marriage ceremony 

 was simple. The suitor was required to make presents 

 to the lady's family. He sought private interviews 

 at night with her. In some places it was enough 

 if he went and sat by her side in her cabin ; if she 

 permitted this and remained where she was it was 

 taken for consent, and the act sufficed for the marriage. 

 If husband and wife could not agree, they parted, or 

 two pairs would exchange husbands and wives. An 

 early French missionary who remonstrated with a 

 native on such a transaction was told : " My wife 

 and I could not agree. My neighbour was in the 

 same case. So we exchanged wives, and we are all 

 four content. What can be more reasonable than 

 to render one another mutually happy, when it costs 

 so little, and does no harm to any one." 



1 Charlevoix, .418 sqq. 



