It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that, among the lower races, women are, as a rule, married without having any voice of their own in the matter. Their liberty of selection, on the contrary, is very considerable, and, however down-trodden, they well know how to make their influence felt. Thus, among the Indians of North America, numberless instances are given of woman’s liberty to choose her husband. Schoolcraft asserts that their marriages are brought about “sometimes with, and sometimes against, the wishes of the graver and more prudent relatives of the parties,” the marital rite consisting chiefly in the consent of the parties.[1310] Heckewelder quotes instances of Indians who committed suicide because they had been disappointed in love, the girls on whom they had fixed their choice, and to whom they were engaged, having changed their minds, and married other lovers.[1311] Among the Kaniagmuts, Thlinkets, and Nutkas, the suitor has to consult the wishes of the young lady.[1312] Among the Chippewas, according to Mr. Keating, the mothers generally settle the preliminaries to marriage without consulting the children: but the parties are not considered husband and wife till they have given their consent.[1313] The Atkha Aleuts occasionally betrothed their children to each other, but the marriage was held to be binding only after the birth of a child.[1314] Among the Creeks, if a man desires to make a woman his wife “conformably to the more ancient and serious custom of the country,” he endeavours to gain her own consent by regular courtship.[1315] Among the Pueblos,[1316] &c.,[1317] “no girl is forced to marry against her will, however eligible her parents may consider the match.” As to the South American Guanas, Azara states, “Aucune femme ne consent à se marier, sans avoir fait ses stipulations préliminaires très-détaillées avec son prétendu, et avec son père et ses parents, à l’égard de leur genre de vie réciproque.”[1318] In Tierra del Fuego, according to Lieutenant Bove, the eagerness with which the women seek for young husbands is surprising, but even more surprising is the fact that they nearly always attain their ends.[1319] Speaking of the same people, Mr. Bridges says, “It frequently happens that there is insuperable aversion on the girl’s part to her husband, and she leaves him, and if she persists in hating him she is then given to one she likes.”[1320] It is, indeed, common in America for a girl to run away from a bridegroom forced upon her by the parents;[1321] whilst, if they refuse to give their daughter to a suitor whom she loves, the couple elope.[1322] Thus, among the Dacotahs, as we are told by Mr. Prescott, “there are many matches made by elopement, much to the chagrin of the parents.”[1323]