MARRIAGE. 249

Wrestling for a Wife.

In the east matters stood very differently. There the determining factor
in bringing about what we improperly call marriage was nothing else than
an exhibition of physical strength or skill. The system was common to all
the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains, within what is now Canada. It was
even known to the Loucheux of Alaska.

As the child was sometimes given away to a man of fifty or more,
when she could hardly realize the nature of the step of which she was the
unconscious victim, it often came to pass that, when she attained the age of
full maturity and was able to have her preferences, her husband was already
verging on his decline. It was but natural that under the circumstances she
should have secretly longed for a change in her situation. As a rule, she
was not left long to pine therefore. If she was at all to the taste of a younger,
and therefore stronger, man, he would simply provoke her husband to a duel.

There was nothing bloody or even dangerous in the encounter. It meant
simply a wrestling contest. Fair play was to be observed, and though the
struggle was public, nobody would have dreamt of interfering, not even the
brother of the attacked party. Of course, the winner took the prize, that is,
the young woman, and possessed it until he was himself beaten in a subsequent
contest. In such cases, much as she may have been pleased with the result,
etiquette demanded that she should seem loath to follow her new master.

So that in the east cohabitation was always of an uncertain duration,
and what to us is marriage was there nothing else than a farce. No one was
ever sure of living the next day with his wife, especially if no children had
been born to deter a passer-by from attempting to win her over to his side,
as it was customary for the offspring to follow the mother.

To some I may seem to be romancing; therefore some proof ol the
foregoing may be necessary. “It has ever been the custom among these people
for the men to wrestle for any woman to whom they are attached”, says
Hearne, the best of our authorities, “and, of course, the strongest party always
carries off the prize. A weak man, unless he be a good hunter and well-beloved,
is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man thinks worth his notice:
for at any time when the wives of those strong wrestlers are heavily-laden
either with furs or provisions, they make no scruple of tearing any other
man’s wife from his bosom, and making her bear a part of his luggage. This
custom prevails throughout all their tribes, and causes a great spirit of emulation
among their youth, who are upon all occasions, from their childhood, trying
their strength and skill in wrestling. This enables them to protect their property,
and particularly their wives, from the hands of those powerful ravishers; some
of whom make almost a livelihood by taking what they please from the
weaker parties, without making them any return. Indeed, it is represented as
an act of great generosity, if they condescend to make an unequal exchange;