[Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Tsetsaut and Bella Coola Indians of British Columbia.]

In the Tsetsaut tribe of British Columbia a girl at puberty wears a large hat of skin which comes down over her face and screens it from the sun.  It is believed that if she were to expose her face to the sun or to the sky, rain would fall.  The hat protects her face also against the fire, which ought not to strike her skin; to shield her hands she wears mittens.  In her mouth she carries the tooth of an animal to prevent her own teeth from becoming hollow.  For a whole year she may not see blood unless her face is blackened; otherwise she would grow blind.  For two years she wears the hat and lives in a hut by herself, although she is allowed to see other people.  At the end of two years a man takes the hat from her head and throws it away.[118] In the Bilqula or Bella Coola tribe of British Columbia, when a girl attains puberty she must stay in the shed which serves as her bedroom, where she has a separate fireplace.  She is not allowed to descend to the main part of the house, and may not sit by the fire of the family.  For four days she is bound to remain motionless in a sitting posture.  She fasts during the day, but is allowed a little food and drink very early in the morning.  After the four days’ seclusion she may leave her room, but only through a separate opening cut in the floor, for the houses are raised on piles.  She may not yet come into the chief room.  In leaving the house she wears a large hat which protects her face against the rays of the sun.  It is believed that if the sun were to shine on her face her eyes would suffer.  She may pick berries on the hills, but may not come near the river or sea for a whole year.  Were she to eat fresh salmon she would lose her senses, or her mouth would be changed into a long beak.[119]

[Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Tinneh Indians of British Columbia.]

Among the Tinneh Indians about Stuart Lake, Babine Lake, and Fraser Lake in British Columbia “girls verging on maturity, that is when their breasts begin to form, take swans’ feathers mixed with human hair and plait bands, which they tie round their wrists and ankles to secure long life.  At this time they are careful that the dishes out of which they eat, are used by no other person, and wholly devoted to their own use; during this period they eat nothing but dog fish, and starvation only will drive them to eat either fresh fish or meat.  When their first periodical sickness comes on, they are fed by their mothers or nearest female relation by themselves, and on no account will they touch their food with their own hands.  They are at this time also careful not to touch their heads with their hands, and keep a small stick to scratch their heads with.  They remain outside the lodge, all the time they are in this state, in a hut made for the purpose.  During all this period they wear a skull-cap made of skin