“He then allows himself to be seen by the maiden before she leaves camp, and running ahead, hides himself in the immediate vicinity of the row of stones.  If she avoids them by passing to the outside, it is a refusal, but should she continue on her trail, and pass between the two rows, he immediately rushes out, catches her and ... carries her triumphantly to camp.”

Lewis and Clarke relate (441) that among the Chinooks the women “have a rank and influence very rarely found among Indians.”  They are allowed to speak freely before the men, their advice is asked, and the men do not make drudges of them.  The reason for this may be found in a sentence from Ross’s book on Oregon (90):  “Slaves do all the laborious work.”  Among such Indians one might expect that girls would have their inclinations consulted when it came to choosing a husband.  In the twelfth chapter of his Wa-Kee-Nah, James C. Strong gives a graphic description of a bridal chase which he once witnessed among the Mountain Chinooks.  A chief had an attractive daughter who was desired by four braves.  The parents, having no special choice in the matter, decided that there should be a race on horseback, the girl being the winner’s prize.  But if the parents had no preference, the girl had; she indulged in various ingenious manoeuvres to make it possible for the Indian on the bay horse to overtake her first.  He succeeded, put his arm round her waist, lifted her from her horse to his own, and married her the next day.

Here the girl had her way, and yet it was only by accident, for while she had a preference, she had no liberty of choice.  It was the parents who ordered the bridal race, and, had another won it, she would have been his.  It is indeed difficult to find real instances of liberty of choice where the daughter’s desire conflicted with the wishes of the parents or other relatives.  Westermarck claims that the Creeks endeavored to gain the girl’s consent, but no such fact can be gathered from the passage he refers to (Schoolcraft, V., 269).  Moreover, among the Creeks, unrestrained license prevailed before marriage, and marriage was considered only as a temporary convenience, not binding on the party more than a year; and finally, Creeks who wanted to marry had to gain the consent of the young woman’s uncles, aunts, and brothers.  Westermarck also says that among the Thlinkets the suitor had to consult the wishes of the “young lady;” yet on page 511 he tells us that among these Indians, “when a husband dies, his sister’s son must marry the widow.”  It does not seem likely that where even widows are treated so unceremoniously, any deference is paid to the wishes of the “young ladies.”  From Keating Westermarck gathers the information that although with the Chippewas the mothers generally settle the preliminaries to marriage without consulting the children, the parties are not considered husband and wife till they have given their