300 SOCIAL AND WARLIKE CUSTOMS 



meat near the bone, and the marrow. They were also strictly pro- 

 hibited from eating blood until after they were married, when they 

 were no longer subject to restraint. Girls were considered marriage- 

 able at fifteen, but it was customary for a young man to remain single 

 until he was twenty-five years of age, after which he might take a 

 wife if he liked, or rather if his parents chose. 



Young girls when fasting rubbed clay on their temples, whilst the 

 young men partially blackened their faces, or occasionally painted 

 them with one or two other colors. This custom can scarcely fail to 

 recall a similar one recognized among the Jews, as the disfiguring of 

 faces on fasting days is distin<;tly noticed in the New Testament. 

 Like the Jews, also, the Indians regarded several animals as unfit to 

 be eaten ; in fact, they had strong prejudices against their flesh. 

 Among the feathered tribes, I may mention the raven, the crow, the 

 blue jay, the owl, and many others, and amongst quadrupeds the fox, 

 the mink, the wolf, &c. 



"With regard to matrimonial affairs it may be remarked that the 

 Indians do not seem to have much appreciated what is called " keep- 

 ing company" nowadays, as the choice of a wife was entirely left to 

 the parents. The young bridegroom may never have seen, spoken to, 

 or been acquainted with the girl until she was introduced to him as 

 his bride. Generally speaking, when the eldest brother died, his 

 younger brother was required to marry his widow ; in all other cases 

 it was not thought lucky for a young man to marry a widow ; and in 

 case the woman should die first her younger sister had to supply her 

 place, provided the parties were not already married. The degrees of 

 relationship extended a great way among the Indians ; and it was 

 prohibited by custom to contract marriage within the forbidden 

 bounds. To give an idea of the operation of this usage, suppose that 

 nn Indian A. had a cousin B., the son of A. and the grand-daughter 

 of B. would be placed within the forbidden degrees of kindred, and 

 should marriage take place between the parties, the son of A. would 

 be considered as marrying his niece. In the English language, it has 

 often appeared to me, there is a great want of words to express the 

 Tarious degrees of relationship. Instead of using different words, the 

 Englishman says my first, second, third cousin, and so on. In Indian 

 there are appropriate terms to express the different degrees of con- 

 sanguinity ; even in speaking to, or of, female relatives, the same 

 terms are not used as when speaking of the men. 



Another discipline to which the young people were subjected, in 



