Page:Life and Adventures of William Buckley.djvu/75

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LIFE OF BUCKLEY.

almost certain. If again, a family increases too rapidly, for instance, if a woman has a child within twelve months of a previous one, they hold a consultation amongst the tribe she belongs to, as to whether it shall live or not; but if the father insists upon the life of the child being spared, they do not persist in its destruction, and especially if it is a female. At their confinements they receive no assistance whatever, but so soon as the child comes into the world, they wrap it up in a piece of skin rug; and, if on a journey, move on; it has no nourishment but the breast. They name them according to any circumstance that may happen; perhaps after the lake, or river they are near; or any accident or event which may have occurred—the whole family changing their names also, until another child is born—when they change again.

It will be seen by the foregoing, that jealousy is the prevalent cause of all their quarrels, for the women and the men are equally under the influences of the Green-eyed Monster. In the fights, however, which ensue, the poor women get much the worst of it, for after having had their furious combats amongst themselves the husbands think it necessary to turn too also, and thrash them into quietude.

The meetings of different tribes, I found were not solely for the purpose of exchanging food, but for the very landable purpose of bringing out their very elegant, amiable, marriageable daughters, to be seen and known, and of course, courted. By this very natural process, much ill-will and wild desperate passions, are unfortu-