NELSON] PUBERTY AND MARRIAGE RITES 291 
PUBERTY 
Among the Malemut, and southward from the lower Yukon and adja- 
cent districts, when a girl reaches the age of puberty she is considered 
unclean for forty days; she must therefore live by herself in a corner of 
the house with her face to the wall, and always keep her hood over her 
head, with her hair hanging disheveled over her eyes. During this time 
she must net go out by day and but once each night when every oue is 
asleep, but if it is summer the girl commonly lives in arough shelter out- 
side the house. At the end of the period she bathes and is clothed in 
new garments, after which she may be taken in marriage. The same 
custom formerly prevailed among the Unalit, but at present the girl is 
secluded behind a grass mat in one corner of the room for the period of 
only four days, during which time she is said to be d-gu-lin-g’a’/-gik, 
meaning she becomes a woman, and is considered unclean. <A peculiar 
atmosphere is supposed to surround her at this time, and if a young 
man should come near enough for it to touch him it would render him 
visible to every animal he might hunt, so that his success as a hunter 
would be gone. Should a considerable time pass after a girl reaches 
puberty and no suitor appear, the father accumulates a large amount 
of food and makes a festival for the purpose of announcing that his 
daughter is ready for marriage. 
. MARRIAGE 
Among the Unalit when a young man sees a girl he wishes to marry 
he tells his parents and one of them goes to the girl’s parents to ask 
their consent. Having obtained this, the suitor dresses in his finest 
clothing and goes to the bride’s house with a new suit of garments, 
which he puts upon her and she becomes his wife. If the parents of 
either party have no children at home, the newly married couple go to 
live with them; otherwise they set up an establishment of their own, 
either building a new house or sharing one with some one else. 
The Unalit frequently marry first cousins or remote blood relatives 
with the idea that in such a case a wife is nearer to her husband. One 
man said that in case of famine, if a man’s wife was from another family 
she would steal food from him to save her own life, while the husband 
would die of starvation; but should a woman be of his own blood she 
would share fairly with him. The wife is considered to become more a 
part of the husband’s family than he of hers. However, brothers and 
sisters, and step-brothers and step-sisters, do not intermarry. 
From the lower Yukon to the Kuskokwim child betrothals are com- 
mon and may occur in two ways. The parents of a very small girl 
who have no son may agree with the parents of several sons that one 
of the boys shall live with them and become the girl’s husband. Again, 
a young boy may sometimes choose a family, containing a girl, in which 
