THE WESTERN DENES. 121 



6° StJii- stands for paternal uncle and sjjizyan for paternal aunt ; 

 siez'e meaning my maternal uncle and sake, my maternal aunt. 



7° Maternal cousins of both sexes are szit to theii- co-relative male 

 cousin and siinte if male or szit if female to their co-relative female 

 cousin, whilst paternal cousins are always called brother or sister. in 

 the indefinite mood. 



8° Schi' does duty for grand-children of any sex and also for the 

 other offspring alluded to in the first I'emark. In the same way, 

 brother-in-law and sister-in-law receive the common appellation of sre. 



The clan organisation obtains also among tiie Western Nah'anes, 

 who have frequent intercourse with the Coast Indians from whom it 

 is derived ; but it is unknown among the Sekanais aiid Eastern Nah'- 

 anes, who owing to the geogi-aj^hical position of their territoi-y, have 

 adhered to their primitive usages and kept aloof from foreign pi'actices. 

 As a consequence father-light is the only law which regulates 

 succession among them. 



V. 



Mai'riage in the Christian sense of the term, is rather a misnomer 

 when intended to designate native unions such as were contracted 

 before the advent of the Missionaries in the Country. Co-habitation 

 would better answer the purpose. In fact, it is the corresponding 

 expression they employ themselves when referring to a man mai-ried 

 to such and such a woman. They say yercesta, "he stays with her." 

 For as thei-e was no valid contract and no intention on either side to 

 consider their union as a pei'manent connection, divorce resulted as a 

 matter of course whenever one of the partners was tired of the other. 

 In that case, the ci-devant husband would take back anything he had 

 bestowed upon his so called wife, and both of them would try life 

 with a new partner. Naturally the man, esjjecially if in easy cir- 

 cumstances, would have a better chance of success than his former 

 wife. Supposing children had been born to them, divorce was more 

 difficult, but by no means impossible. In that event, the father 

 would ordinarily take possession of the offspring. For among the 

 Indians, as among many of their civilized brethren " might is light," 

 and as they are exceedingly fond of their children, the late husband 



