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

Among the Lillooet Indians of British Columbia, neighbours of the Thompsons, the customs observed by girls at puberty were similar.  The damsels were secluded for a period of not less than one year nor more than four years, according to their own inclination and the wishes of their parents.  Among the Upper Lillooets the hut in which the girl lodged was made of bushy fir-trees set up like a conical tent, the inner branches being lopped off, while the outer branches were closely interwoven and padded to form a roof.  Every month or half-month the hut was shifted to another site or a new one erected.  By day the girl sat in the hut; for the first month she squatted in a hole dug in the middle of it; and she passed the time making miniature baskets of birch-bark and other things, praying that she might be able to make the real things well in after years.  At the dusk of the evening she left the hut and wandered about all night, but she returned before the sun rose.  Before she quitted the hut at nightfall to roam abroad, she painted her face red and put on a mask of fir-branches, and in her hand, as she walked, she carried a basket-rattle to frighten ghosts and guard herself from evil.  Among the Lower Lillooets, the girl’s mask was often made of goat-skin, covering her head, neck, shoulders and breast, and leaving only a narrow opening from the brow to the chin.  During the nocturnal hours she performed many ceremonies.  Thus she put two smooth stones in her bosom and ran, and as they fell down between her body and her clothes, she prayed, saying, “May I always have easy child-births!” Now one of these stones represented her future child and the other represented the afterbirth.  Also she dug trenches, praying that in the years to come she might be strong and tireless in digging roots; she picked leaves and needles from the fir-trees, praying that her fingers might be nimble in picking berries; and she tore sheets of birch-bark into shreds, dropping the shreds as she walked and asking that her hands might never tire and that she might make neat and fine work of birch-bark.  Moreover, she ran and walked much that she might be light of foot.  And every evening, when the shadows were falling, and every morning, when the day was breaking, she prayed to the Dusk of the Evening or to the Dawn of Day, saying, “O Dawn of Day!” or “O Dusk,” as it might be, “may I be able to dig roots fast and easily, and may I always find plenty!” All her prayers were addressed to the Dusk of the Evening or the Dawn of Day.  She supplicated both, asking for long life, health, wealth, and happiness.[125]

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