248 PROHIBITED DEGREES, 
where the duties of the latter are so numerous 
and so severe 
The custom of buying wives, or at least 
making large presents to their parents, has al- 
ways been very general; and still exists, not 
only among the more savage, but even ‘with 
many of the partially civilized nations. Yet, 
poreuheabding their depravity in other re- 
spects, there is one thing truly remarkable in 
their marriages. All modern observers seem 
to agree with the ancient authors, that they 
universally abhor incestuous connections. 
Among the Creeks, even the marrying of 
cousins was punished by cutting off the ears. 
The Cherokees (according to some manu- 
script notes which I have of an intelligent 
member of the tribe) were prohibited from 
marrying in their own clans (i. e. kindred 
under penalty of death; and their clans them- 
selves were their executioners. But, although 
the Indians thus so strictly prohibit marriage 
within the degrees of consanguinity, it is not so 
with those of affinity among many tribes. 
The Otoes, Kansas, and others of the same 
stock, will not only marry several sisters, but 
their deceased brothers’ wives; in fact, this 
last seems considered a duty, so that the 
orphan children of the brother may not be 
without a protector.* 
While the aborigines of the New World 
* Clavi os remarks of the Indians of Mexico, * Estaba severa- 
mante prohibido....... todo enlac Progen! entre parientes 
en primer grado de con canguiehiek © 
cufiados.” 
