156 
and some of her jorenj^atives^ in a series of feasts, and the wife’s 
kinsmen re])aid the bride-price in corresponding manner during the 
years that followed, adding interest for every child that issued frcun 
the marriage. Theoretically, the woman could dissolve the partner- 
ship after her redemption, but in practice the husband renewed the 
contract by a further distribution of presents to her kinsfolk. 
Although few, if any, tribes entirely discountenanced polygamy, 
it was nowhere very common except in the Yukon basin and on the 
plains, where the leading men generally had two and three wives — 
sisters, as a rule, because they were more likely to live together in 
harmony. Marriage gave these prairie Indians such absolute con- 
trol over their wives that divorce was rare, although the relatives of 
a woman who constantly suffered harsh treatment from her husband 
sometimes took her away for a period. For economic reasons divorce 
was practically unknown also in British Columbia, at least among 
the nobles, for we have little information concerning the domestic 
life of the commoners who made u]> tlie majority of the pojnilation. 
Elsewhere it was of frequent occurrence befoi-e the birth of children, 
in some of the more migratory tribes so frecpient that the first few 
months of inarriage seem to have l)cen regarded as a period of trial 
union rather than of permanent jiartnershi]). The Athapaskans 
(and sometimes the Eskimo) even wrestled for each other’s wives 
when these were young and good-looking, so that a strong man might 
arrogate to himself half a dozen young girls while a weakling secured 
only some cast-off woman or no wife at all.- 
Marriage, as in all countries, brought increased responsibilities 
to the young couple. They divided their labours rather strictly, the 
more arduous and dangerous occiqiations naturally falling to the man, 
wlio devoted most of his time to lumting and fishing while his wife 
tended the home, lie provided the meat and fish that formed the 
staple diet of the natives, while she collected the berries, nuts, and 
shell-fish that supplemented it at certain seasons. Among the 
Iroquoian tribes, which were in a transitional stage between migra- 
tory hunters and agriculturalists, the men cleared the foi'ests for the 
maize croi>s, and the women planted, cultivated, anrl liarvested 
them. The husband everywhere manufactured most of the house- 
1 o.K. , tlie to perfonn certain dances or paint certain figures on the front of his liouse. 
e/. Hearne: 0|>. cit., p. 141 ff ; Thonii>scni; Op. I'it., )). 163. 
