The Indian bridegroom generally pays his father-in-law for his bride; and even in their primitive form of society, he who can offer a large price is most likely to be acceptable to parents. Handsome Indian girls are not unfrequently disposed of contrary to their inclinations. They are not permitted to marry relations within so near a degree of consanguinity as cousins. Suicide is common among the women of these savage tribes. When thwarted in love, or driven to desperation by ill usage, they frequently hang themselves to the branch of a tree, rush into the sea, or throw themselves from a precipice. The men very rarely destroy their own lives. They seldom have more than one wife at a time; but they change just when they please, interchange with each other, and lend to visiters, without scandal. When a wife becomes old, a younger one is often purchased; and the first one may either kill herself, or tamely submit to be the drudge of the family. In several tribes, the pieces of stick given to the witnesses at the marriage are burnt, in sign of divorce. But, generally speaking, new connections are formed without any formal dissolution of the old one. When the sachem of Saugus married the daughter of the chief of Pennakook, a great feast was given, and the bride and bridegroom escorted to their dwelling by some of the most honorable men of her father’s tribe, who were feasted several days at the expense of the husband. Some time after, the wife expressed a wish to visit her father, and was permitted to do so, with a select escort to accompany her. When she desired to return, the old chief sent to the sachem to come and take her away. This offended the young man’s pride. “I sent her to you in a manner that became a chief,” he replied; “and now that she intends to return to me, I expect the same from you.” The chief of Pennakook considered this an insolent message. He would not allow his daughter to return unless her husband sent for her; the sachem would not submit to the terms; and the young couple saw each other no more. The Indians pride themselves on stoicism, and at no period of their history have been addicted to voluptuousness. Their sense of manliness and dignity prevents them from being immodest. In this respect, their deportment towards women is abundantly more praiseworthy than that of civilized nations.