STEVENSON.] 



PREPARING TO BUILD. 



21 



many of the clans are now extinct, it is impossible to intermarry in 

 obedience to ancient rule. 



The Sia are no exception to all the North American aborigines with 

 whom the writer is acijuainted, the man being the active party in mat- 

 rimonial aspirations. If a woman has not before been married, and is 

 young, the man speaks to her parents before breathing a word of his 

 admu'ation to the girl. If his desire meets witli approbation, the follow- 

 ing day he makes known to the girl his wish for her. The girl usually 

 answers in the afifii-mative if it be the will of her parents. Some two 

 months are consumed in the preparations for the wedding. Moccasins, 

 blankets, a dress, a belt, and other parts of the wardrobe are prepared 

 by the groom and the clans of his paternal and maternal pareiits. The 

 clans of the father and mother of the girl make great preparations for 



Fio. 4— iinaUuig the earth under tent. 



the feast, which occurs after the marriage. The groom goes alone to 

 the house of the girl, his parents having preceded him, and carries his 

 gifts wrapped in a blanket. The girl's mother sits to her right, and to 

 the right of this parent the groom's mother sits; there is space for the 

 groom on the left of the girl, and beyond, the groom's father sits, and 

 next to him the girl's father. When the groom enters the room the 

 girl advances to meet him and receives the bundle; her mother then 

 comes forward and taking it deposits it in some part of the same room, 

 when the girl returns to her seat and the groom sits beside her. The 

 girl's father is the first to speak, and says to the couple, "You must 

 now be as one, your hearts nuist be as one heart, you must speak no 

 bad words, and one must live for the other; and remember, your two 

 hearts must now be as one heart." The groom's father then repeats 



