54 INDIAN MARRIAGES. 



female is taken by them, it does not appear 

 that her wishes are at all consulted, but she 

 is obtained from the lodge as an inmate at the 

 Fort, for the prime of her days generally, 

 through that irresistible bribe to Indians, rum. 

 Childbirth, is considered by them, as an event 

 of a trifling nature ; and it is not an uncom- 

 mon case for a woman to be taken in labour, 

 step aside from the party she is travelling with, 

 and overtake them in the evening at their 

 encampment, with a new-born infant on her 

 back. It has been confidently stated that 

 Indian women suffer more from parturition 

 with half-breed children than when the father 

 is an Indian. If this account be true, it can 

 only be in consequence of their approach to 

 the habits of civilized life, exerting an in- 

 jurious influence over their general constitu- 

 tion. When taken to live with white men, 

 they have larger families, and at the same time 

 are liable to more disease consequent upon it, 

 than in their wild and wandering state. They 

 have customs, such as separation for forty days 

 at the birth of a child, setting apart the 

 female in a separate lodge at peculiar seasons, 

 and forbidding her to touch any articles in 

 common use, which bear a strong resemblance 

 to the laws of uncleanness, and separation 



