RISE OF FATHERRIGHT 91 



would quietly lie down beside her on the edge of her 

 blanket. Sometimes she would give an alarm, and he 

 would have to run out, but often she would ask who he 

 was. If she did not care for him she told him to leave 

 or struck him ; but if she liked him she said no more. 

 He lay this way on top of her blanket, she underneath, 

 neither of them talking, till near daybreak ; then he 

 crept noiselessly away, just whispering to her ' Good- 

 by.' He would come and do likewise for three nights 

 more. On the fourth and last night she would put 

 her arm and hand outside the blanket. This was a 

 sure sign that he was accepted, therefore he took her 

 hand in his. From that moment they were man and 

 wife. On the next morning the girl would say to her 

 parents : * So-and-so comes to me. He touched my 

 hand last night.' Then her father would tell the 

 young man's people, while her mother would prepare 

 a small feast. The young man and his parents would 

 repair to the house of the girl's parents, and the young 

 man would henceforth live with his wife. Sometimes, 

 if the girl's parents gave no feast, the lad's parents did ; 

 then the girl's father took her to [the lad's] house, and 

 she lived with her husband and his people. In this 

 as in all forms of marriage by touching, as a rule no 

 presents were given, nor were ceremonial visits 

 made. ... The young women also had the privilege of 

 touching the young men, which they generally did on 

 either the head or the arm. A man, however, was 

 not compelled to take to wife the girl who had touched 

 him, although he usually did so. Some girls who 

 touched a man and were not accepted felt greatly 

 ashamed, and committed suicide." l From this 



1 Teit, Jesup Exped. i. 321, 292. 



