Indian marriages are generally performed in the following manner: The young couple are seated on a mat in the centre of the room. The bride, or bridegroom, hold a rod or wand between them, while some elderly person harangues them concerning their reciprocal duties. He tells the husband that he must catch plenty of venison and furs for his wife; and the bride is urged to cook his food well, mend his clothes, and take off his moccasins and leggins, when he comes home from hunting. The rod is then broken, and a piece given to the witnesses, in testimony of the contract. The company form a circle and dance and sing around them. Before they separate, they partake of a plentiful feast provided for the occasion. A strap, a kettle, and a fagot, are put into the bride’s apartment, in token of her employments. At Dacotah weddings, the bride is carried forcibly to her husband’s dwelling, making resistance at every step. In some parts of Old Mexico, the bridegroom was carried off by his relations, as if he were the one forced into wedlock. A Dacotah lover puts on leggins of different colors, seats himself on a log near the wigwam of his beloved, and sings, or plays on some musical instrument. The following has been given as a sample of Indian love-songs, by a writer well acquainted with their manners: “She is handsomer than scarlet or wampum; I will put on a blue leggin and run after her; And she will flee as if afraid. But I see, as she turns her head over her shoulder, And mocks and laughs, and rails at me, That her fears are nothing but pretence. She is handsomer than scarlet and wampum; I will put on a blue leggin and run after her.” The Indians, both men and women, had great love of finery. Their caps, belts, and moccasins were plentifully embroidered with beads and shells, which they called wampum. The chiefs considered a coronet of feathers peculiarly beautiful; but this ornament, generally indicative of successful war, was seldom worn by women. But even among these rude people, jokes concerning female love of dress were not wanting. A few years since, the writer conversed with two Penobscot Indians, the one old, the other young, and very handsome. The youth wore a scarlet band upon his hat, and his wampum belt was curiously embroidered; the other had an old blanket carelessly wrapped about him. “Where is your wampum belt?” said I. With a look of quiet scorn, he replied, “What for me wear ribbons and beads? Me no want to catch ’em squaw.”[3] [3] Indians call their women _squaws_, and infants _papooses_. Among the Hohays are men who dress in a female garb, and perform all manner of female avocations. They are called _Winktahs_, and treated with the utmost contempt.