SCIENCE. 
207 
amy, are correlative parts of one regulation, and the Wyan- 
dottes, like all other tribes of which we have any knowledge 
in North America, are both endogamous and exogamous. 
Polygamy is permitted, but the wives must belong to 
different gentes. The first wife remains the head of the 
household. Polyandria is prohibited. A man seeking a 
wife consults her mother, sometimes direct, and sometimes 
through his own mother. The mother of the girl advises 
with the women councillors to obtain their consent, and the 
young people usually submit quietly to their decision. 
Sometimes the women councillors consult with the men. 
When a girl is betrothed, the man makes such presents to 
the mother as he can. It is customary to consummate the 
marriage before the end of the moon in which the betrothal 
is made. Bridegroom and bride make promises of faithful- 
ness to the parents and women councillors of both parties. 
It is customary to give a marriage feast in which the gentes 
of both parties take part. For a short time at least, bride 
and groom live with the bride’s mother, or rather in the 
original household of the bride. 
The time when they will set up housekeeping for them- 
selves is usually arranged before marriage. 
In the event of the death of the mother the children be- 
long to her sister or to her nearest female kin, the matter 
being settled by the council women of the gens. As the 
children belong to the mother, on the death of the father 
the mother and children are cared for by her nearest male 
relative until subsequent marriage. 
NAME REGULATIONS. 
It has been previously explained that there is a body of 
names, the exclusive property of each gens. Once a year, 
at the green-corn festival, the council women of the gens 
select the names for the children born during the previous 
year, and the chief of the gens proclaims these names at the 
festival. No person may change his name, but every per- 
son, man or woman, by honorable or dishonorable conduct, 
or by remarkable circumstance, may win a second name 
commemorative of deed or circumstance, which is a kind 
of title. 
REGULATIONS OF PERSONAL ADORNMENT. 
Each clan has a distinctive method of painting the face, 
a distinctive chaplet to be worn by the gentile chief and 
council women when they are inaugurated, and subse- 
quently at festival occasions, and distinctive ornaments for 
all its members, to be used at festivals and religious cere- 
monies. 
REGULATIONS OF ORDER IN ENCAMPMENT AND MIGRATIONS. 
The camp of the tribe is in an open circle or horse- 
shoe, and the gentes camp in the following order, begin- 
ning on the left and going around to the right: 
Deer, Bear, Highland Turtle (striped), Highland Turtle 
(black), Mud Turtle, Smooth Large Turtle, Hawk, Beaver, 
Wolf, Sea Snake, Porcupine. 
The order in which the households camp in the gentile 
group is regulated by the gentile councillors and adjusted 
from time to time in such a manner that the oldest family is 
placed on the left, and the youngest on the right. In mi- 
grations and expeditions the order of travel follows the 
analogy of encampment. 
PROPERTY RIGHTS. 
Within the area claimed by the tribe each gens occupies 
a smaller tract for the purpose of cultivation. The right of 
the gens to cultivate a particular tract is a matter settled in 
the council of the tribe, and the gens may abandon one 
tract for another only with the consent of the tribe. The 
women councillors partition the gentile land among the 
householders, and the household tracts are distinctly marked 
by them. The ground is re-partitioned once in two years. 
The heads of households are responsible for the cultivation 
of the tract, and should this duty be neglected the council 
of the gens calls the responsible parties to account. 
Cultivation is communal ; that is, all of the able-bodied 
women of the gens take part in the cultivation of each 
household tract in the following manner : 
The head of the household sends her brother or son into 
the forest or to the stream to bring in game or fish for a 
feast ; then the able-bodied women of the gens are invited 
to assist in the cultivation of the land, and when this work 
is done a feast is given. 
The wigwam or lodge and all articles of the household 
belong to the woman — the head of the household — and at 
her death are inherited bj' her eldest daughter, or nearest 
of female kin. The matter is settled by the council women. 
If the husband die his property is inherited by his brother 
or his sister’s son, except such portion as may be buried' 
with him. His property consists of his clothing, hunting 
and fishing implements and such articles as are used per- 
sonally by himself. 
Usually a small canoe is the individual property of the 
man. Large canoes are made by the male members of the 
gentes, and are the property of the gentes. 
RIGHTS OF PERSON. 
Each individual has aright to freedom of person and se- 
curity from personal and bodily injury, unless adjudged 
guilty of crime by proper authority. 
COMMUNITY RIGHTS. 
Each gens has the right to the services of all its women 
in the cultivation of the soil. Each gens has the right to 
the service of all its male members in avenging wrongs, 
and the tribe has the right to the service of all its male 
members in time of war. 
RIGHTS OF RELIGION. 
Each phratry has the right to certain religious ceremonies 
and the preparation of certain medicines. 
Each gens has the exclusive right to worship its tutelar 
god, and each individual has the exclusive right to the pos- 
session and use of a particular amulet. 
CRIMES. 
The violations of rights are crimes. Some of the crimes 
recognized by the Wyandottes are as follows : 
1. Adultery. 4. Murder. 
2. Theft. 5. Treason. 
3. Maiming. 6. Witchcraft. 
A maiden guilty of fornication may be punished by her 
mother or female guardian, but if the crime is flagrant and 
repeated, so as to become a matter of general gossip, and 
the mother fails to correct it, the matter may be taken up 
by the council women of the gens. 
A woman guilty of adultry, for the first offence is pun- 
ished by having her hair cropped ; for repeated offences 
her left ear is cut off. 
THEFT. 
The punishment for theft is two-fold restitution. When 
the prosecutor and prosecuted belong to the same gens, 
the trial is before the council of the gens, and from it there 
is no appeal. If the parties involved are of different gentes, 
the prosecutor, through the head of his household, laj's the 
matter before the council of his own gens ; by it the mat- 
ter is laid before the gentile council of the accused in a 
formal manner. Thereupon it becomes the duty of the 
council of the accused to investigate the facts for them- 
selves, and to settle the matter with the council of the 
plaintiff. Failure thus to do is followed by retaliation in 
the seizing of any property of the gens which may be 
found. 
MAIMING. 
Maiming is compounded, and the method of procedure 
in prosecution is essentially the same as for theft. 
MURDER. 
In the case of murder, if both parties are members of the 
same gens, the matter is tried by the gentile conncil on 
complaint of the head of the household, but there may be 
an appeal to the council of the tribe. Where the parties 
belong to different gentes, complaint is formally made by 
the injured party, through the chief of his gens, in the fol- 
lowing manner: 
