McoEE] PARALLEL MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 283* 



time they agree, she shall go along with him as betrothed, but he is not to h:ivf any 

 knowledge of her till the utmost payment is discharged; all which is punctually 

 observed. Thus they lie together under one covering for several mouths, and the 

 woman renutins the same as she was when slie first came to him.' 



This record also is peculiarly pertinent, partly in that it practically 

 corroborates the Seri testimony, but chiefly in that it indicates definite 

 transition toward a higher culture-plane in which the primitive material 

 test is at least partially replaced by a coiinnutation in goods or their 

 equivalents. 



On reducing the marital customs of the Seri to conventional terms, 

 the more prominent features are found to be (1) strict clan exogamy 

 and (2) absolute tribal endogamy, together with (3) theoretical or con- 

 structive monogamy, coupled with (4) vague traces of polyandry, and 

 (5) an a])parently superticial ])olygyny, as well as (6) total absence of 

 purchase or cai)ture of either spouse. 



On reviewing the customs in the light of their influence on the 

 everyday life of the tribe, certain features stand out conspicuously: 

 (1) Perhaps the most striking feature is the collective character of the 

 function; for while the movement originates in personal inclination on 

 the part of the suitor and is shaped by personal inclination on the ]iart 

 of the maiden, all manifestations of inclination are open and public 

 (at least to the elders of the two clans involved), while the personal 

 sentiments on both sides are comi)letely subordinated to the public 

 interests of clans and tribe as weighed and decided by the matronly 

 lawgivers and adelphiarchal administratives. Thus neither man nor 

 maid mates for thonself, but both love and naove in the tribal interests 

 and along the lines laid down by the tribal leaders. (2) As a corollary 

 or a complement (according to the viewpoint) to the collectivity of the 

 mating, the next most striking feature is the formal or legal aspect of 

 the union; for the entire affair, from inception to consummation, is 

 rigorously regulated by precedents and usages handed down from au 

 immemorial past. Thus the roots of young affection are not destroyed 

 but rather cultivated, though the burgeoning vine and the outreach- 

 ing tendrils are trained to a social structure shaped in ages gone and 

 kept in the olden form by unbroken tradition. (3) A collateral fea- 

 ture of the customs is the necessary reaction of the requirements on 

 individual character of both groom and bride; for the would-be war- 

 rior-spouse is eomijelled to display high (jualities of physical and 

 moral manhood on pain of ostracism and outlawry, so that his pas- 

 sions of ambition and affection are at once stimulated to the highest 

 degree, while the maiden's pride of blood and possession and her sense 

 of regnant responsibility are fostered to the utmost. The brief prelimi- 

 nary courtship and the long probationary mating mark an era of intensi- 

 fication in two lives at their most impressionable stage; and if there be 



'The History of Carolina, etc, by John Lawson {1714), reprint of 1860, pp. 302-303. Attention waa 

 called to this passage by Air James Mooney. 



