flowers; at sunset the young man presents himself, with great gravity of deportment.  As soon as he has taken a seat near the girl, the guests begin eating, but in silence; but soon a signal is given by the mothers, each guest rises, preparatory to retiring.  At that moment, the two lovers cross their hands, and the husband speaks for the first time, interrogatively:—­“Faithful to the lodge, faithful to the father, faithful to his children?” She answers softly:  “Faithful, ever faithful, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in death”—­“Penir, penir-asha, sartir nu cohta, lebeck nu tanim.”  It is the last formula,—­the ceremony is accomplished.  This may seem very simple and ridiculous; to me it appeared almost sublime.  Opinions depend upon habits and education.

The husband remains a whole year with his father-in-law, to whom belongs by right the produce of his hunting, both skins and flesh.  The year expired, his bondage Is over, and he may if he wishes it, retire with his wife to his own father’s, or construct a lodge for his own use.  The hunter brings his game to his door, except when a heavy animal; there ends his task; the wife skins and cuts it; she dries the skin and cures the meat.  Yet if the husband is a prime hunter, whose time is precious, the woman herself, or her female relations, go out and seek the game where It has been killed.  When a man dies, his widow wears mourning during two or four years; the same case happens with the widower, only his duties are not so strict as that of a woman; and it often happens that, after two years, he marries his sister-in-law, if there is any.  The Indians think it a natural thing; they say that a woman will have more care of her sister’s children than of those of a stranger.  Among the better classes of Indians, children are often affianced to each other, even at the age of a few months.  These engagements are sacred, and never broken.

The Indians in general have very severe laws against murder, and they are pretty much alike among the tribes; they are divided into two distinct sections—­murder committed in the nation and out of the nation.

When a man commits a murder upon his own people, he runs away from his tribe, or delivers himself to justice.  In this latter case, the nearest relation of the victim kills him openly, in presence of all the warriors.  In the first case, he is not pursued, but his nearest relation is answerable for the deed, and suffers the penalty, if by a given time he has not produced the assassin.  The death Is instantaneous, from the blow of a tomahawk.  Often the chief will endeavour to make the parties smoke the pipe of peace; if he succeeds, all ends here; If not, a victim must be sacrificed.  It is a stern law, which sometimes brings with its execution many great calamities.  Vengeance has often become hereditary, from generation to generation; murders have succeeded murders, till one of the two families has deserted the tribe.