302 OSAGE MARRIAGE. 
tianize “ne Some of their matrimonial 
customs are very curious and rather pecu- 
liar. The anda daughter seems not only 
‘heiress apparent,’ but, when married, be- 
comes absolute owner of the entire property 
and household of her parents—family and all. 
While single, however, she has no authority, 
but is herself held as a piece of merchanta- 
ble property, estimated somewhat as in civi- 
lized life, in proportion to her ‘charms,’ and 
to the value of her ‘hereditaments.’ She is 
therefore kept under the strictest watch by her 
parents, that she may not diminish her worth 
by any improper conduct. 
en some warrior ‘beau’ has taken a 
fancy to the heiress and wishes to possess her 
and her estate of sisters, dogs, rugs and house- 
i he takes his finest horses, (and if she be 
‘belle’ he need not attempt it unless he 
hive some of the noblest), and tying them at 
her lodge door departs without saying a word ; 
leaving them, like a slow-match, silently to 
effect his purpose. After the ‘pretender’ has 
disappeared, the matron of the premises and 
er lord inspect the valuables, the ‘demure 
damsel’ barely venturing a sly peep through 
some crevice of the wigwam. If the offer be 
found unworthy, the horses are sent back to 
e owner as silently as they came, or may- 
be with some apology, provided he be a war- 
rior whom they are afraid of offending. But 
if accepted, the father takes instead some of 
own horses and ties them at the door of 
the proposer, as a token of admission. — If the 
