794 REPORT— 1897. 



not as expert as ulie Northern Ci'ee women at this kind of work. There is a 

 natural division of labour between the sexes. Agriculture is a new occupation 

 for these hunting- tribes. The ordinary costume of the women consists of a loose 

 gown of equal width from top to bottom without fastenings of any kind, having 

 wide sleeves, a pair of leggings and moccasins, and an outer blanket or skin. 

 Brass rings on each finger of both hands, earrings, and necklace and painted face 

 serve as ornaments. Napioa instituted marriage. The females are married early, 

 sometimes at eleven or twelve years of age. Marriage is by purchase. War 

 between tribes destroyed the men and left a large majority of women, and polygamy 

 arose. Nature is putting an end to polygamy through an equalising of the sexes. 

 Divorce is an easy matter. Adultery is punished by cutting oft" the woman's 

 nose. Twins are considered a calamity. There are medicine-women who are not 

 members of the medical priesthood. The women are modest, love their children 

 intensely, obey their husbands, quarrel with the other members of the lodge, ride 

 horseback in the same fashion as men, smoke as men, but use common pipes and 

 smoke separately, not in unison as the men ; are good swimmers, throwing the 

 hands in dog fashion ; mourn deeply when one of their dogs is killed, drink tea 

 incessantly, are inveterate gamblers. Since coming in contact with civilisation 

 many of the women have become immoral. Cree and Kootenay women are 

 sometimes found married to Blackfoot husbands. The women are sweet singers. 

 In the native dances they dance separately. The females prepare the corpses of 

 their deceased relatives for burial, are the chief mourners at funerals, prepare the 

 eacred tongues for the sun-dance. 



Mythology affects the status of woman. Harsh treatment, early marriage, 

 and poverty induce premature physical and mental decay. Cooking exerts a 

 strong influence on the health and longevity of individuals. Totemism affects the 

 modes of life and thought of the people. Polygamy is dependent on tribal wars. 

 Civilisation injures the morals of the aborigines. 



8. On the Hut burial of the American Aborigines. By E. Sidney Hartland. 



James Adair, whose 'History of the American Indians' was published in 

 1775, describes the burial of natives belonging to the Cherokees and allied tribes as 

 taking place in their own huts. The deceased was buried within his own house, 

 under the widow's bed. The same custom was found by the Spaniards among 

 certain tribes of South America, and it has continued to the present day in Brazil. 

 Traces also remain of it among the Zuiiis. Nor is it peculiar to the American 

 continent ; at one time it was even the practice of the ancestors of the European 

 peoples. Its origin must be sought for in the savage idea of kinship, and in the 

 desire to retain within the kin the deceased, with all his power and virtues. As 

 civilisation developed, however, the inconveniences of keeping the dead, either 

 above or below ground, in the hut which continued to be the dwelling of the 

 survivors began to be perceived. Various expedients were devised to obviate 

 these inconveniences. Many people preserved the desiccated bones of the dead, 

 which were often, as among many of the North American tribes, finally deposited 

 in gentile ossuaries. 



WoEKS Cited on the Ameeican Teibes : — 



The HistoTn/ of the American Indians ; particularly those nations adjoining to the 

 Mississippi, East and West Florida, ffeorrjia, South and North Carolina, and Vir- 

 ginia. By James Adaie, Esq.. London, 1775. 



The ProMem of the Ohio Mounds. By Cyeus Thomas [Bureau of Ethnology], 

 Washington, 1889. 



The Travels of Pedro de Cieza de Leon, A.D. 1532-50, contained in the first part of 

 his Chronicle of Hern. Translated and edited by Clements R. Maekham, F.S.A., 

 F.R.G.S. London [Hakluyt Soc], 1884. 



The Indian Tribes of Guiana : tJieir Condition and Habits. By the Rev. W. H, 

 Beett, London, 1868. 



