Page:Life and Adventures of William Buckley.djvu/74

Rh CHAPTER IV.

only ceremonies they use preparatory to marriage are, in the first place, to get the parents' consent, the suitor's best claim is being a good fighter, and an expert hunter—so as to be able to protect and provide for a family. They are not at all particular as to the number of wives such men have; consequently some have five or six wives, and others none at all. If a man wishes to have a man's grown up sister for a wife, he must give his own—if he has one—in exchange; but they are very averse to marrying one of their own relations—even of a distant degree. If a woman is supposed to have a child who is not her husband's, they consider it a great disgrace; and to the infant, death is