ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 83 



own gentes, though they live with the gentes of their wives. 

 Children, irrespective of sex, belong to the gens of the 

 mother. Men and women must marry within the tribe. A 

 woman taken to wife from without the tribe must first be 

 adopted into some family of a gens other than that to which 

 the man belongs. That a woman may take for a husband a 

 man without the tribe he must also be adopted into the 

 family of some gens other than that of the woman. What 

 has been called by some ethnologists endogamy and exog- 

 amy, are correlative parts of one regulation, and the Wyan- 

 dots, like all other tribes of which we have any knowledge 

 in North America, are both endogamous and exogamous. 



Polygamy is permitted, but the wives must belong to 

 different gentes. The first wife remains the head of the 

 household. Polyandry is prohibited. A man seeking a 

 wife consults her mother, sometimes direct, and sometimes 

 through his own mother. The mother of the girl advises 

 with the women councillors to obtain their consent, and the 

 young people usually submit quietly to their decision. 

 Sometimes the woman councillors consult with the men. 



•When a girl is betrothed, the man makes such presents to 

 the mother as he can. It is customary to consummate the 

 marriage before the end of the moon in which the betrothal 

 is made. Bridegroom and bride make promises of faithful- 

 ness to the parents and women councillors of both parties. 

 It is customary to give a marriage feast in which the gentes 

 of both parties take part. For a short time, at least, bride 

 and groom live with the bride's mother, or rather in the 

 original household of the bride. 



The time when they will set up housekeeping for them- 

 selves is usually arranged before marriage. 



In the event of the death of the mother, the children be- 

 long to her sister or to her nearest female kin, the matter 

 being settled by the council women of the gens. As the 

 children belong to the mother, on the death of the father 

 the mother and children are cared for by her nearest male 

 relative until subsequent marriage. 



