12 THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 



care, however, not to hit him; then the same evolutions were performed as is 

 customary in the whale fishery. A party of friends followed the canoe, who sang 

 to the accompaniment of drums and rattles. The burthen of their song was, that 

 they had come to purchase a wife for one of their number, and- recounted his 

 merits and the number of blankets he would pay. When they reached the lodge 

 the representative of the whale moved to one side, while the man in the canoe 

 threw his harpoon with such force as to split the door, which was a single plank, 

 in halves. The door, however, was kept barred, and the party, after piling a great 

 number of blankets and a couple of guns against it, rested awhile, hoping to be 

 admitted. After another chant, and the adding of a few more blankets to the heap, 

 another harpoon was thrown against the door; but to no purpose, the damsel was 

 obdurate, and the price not sufficient to satisfy her parents. This operation may 

 be said to be symbolical of Cupid's dart on a large scale. The party efi^ected no- 

 thing, and returned home. A few weeks later another lover, who was acceptable to 

 the girl, came from Nittinat on Vancouver Island, with a great number of friends 

 in five large canoes. These approached the shore, side by side, very slowly, the 

 Indians in them standing up, singing and brandishing their paddles; they stopped 

 just outside the surf, and one of the men delivered a speech, stating what they 

 had come for and what they would pay. Then they aU landed, and, having hauled 

 their canoes on the beach, formed a blanket procession. First came a ta-ma-na-was 

 or medicine man, dressed up with a gaudy display of finery, with his face painted 

 red, and a bunch of eagle's feathers in his hair, a large wooden rattle in one hand 

 and a bunch of scallop shells in the other, with which he kept time to a song. 

 Next him was a man with a blanket over one shoulder, and holding one corner 

 of another blanket, which was stretched out by an Indian who walked behind 

 him holding the other corner, and also the corner of a third blanket, which was 

 in like manner held by a third Indian behmd. In this manner eighty-four 

 blankets were brought by the procession, single file, and deposited one after the other 

 at the door of the lodge, which in this instance was open, showing that the suitor 

 was favorably received ; but the eighty-four blankets were not enough, so the pro- 

 cession returned to the canoes and brought eighty-four more blankets in the same 

 manner. These were all piled up outside the lodge; but the parents were in no 

 haste, their daughter was too valuable, and the lover must wait. This he did for 

 a week with aU his friends. Every day a speech was made, and every night 

 songs and dances were performed. At length the parents yielded, and the maiden 

 was carried oif in triumph, very much to her own satisfaction as well as that of her 

 lover. The blankets, guns, and other articles used in the purchase, are not usually 

 retained by the parents or relatives of the bride, but are returned to the bride- 

 groom, who takes them home with his new wife and distributes them to the friends 

 of both. In short, what is said to be paid for a wife, is simply the amount which 

 the bridegroom will give away to the assembled friends. 



A girl is considered marriageable as soon as she arrives at puberty. On the 

 appearance of the menstrual discharge she is immediately secluded, by being placed 

 behind a screen of mats or boards in a corner of the lodge. A number of little 

 girls are in attendance day and night for a week or ten days, who keep up a con- 



