Original - North Central Michigan College Library

anfc63least, as not more licentious. Children bornout of wedlock are very rare among the Indians.The lover who is permitted to remain retiresbefore daybreak. When the young womanhas consented to be his wife he opens the affairto his own mother, by whom it is communicatedto her's; and if the two mothers agreethey mutually apply to their husbands.The father of the young man then invitesthe father of the young woman to a stew, orsudatory, prepared for the occasion, and atwhich he communicates the wishes of his son.The father of the young woman gives nothe day following, when in his ownreply tillturn he invites the other to the sweating house.If he approves of the match, the terms uponwhich it is to be made are now settled.Stews, sudatories, or sweating houses areresorted to for cure of sickness, for pleasure,or for giving freedom and vigor to the facultiesof the mind when particular deliberation andsagacity are called for. To prepare them for aguest is, therefore, to offer every assistance tohis judgment, and manifest the reverse of adisposition to take an unfair advantage ofhim: it is the exact opposite of offering himliquor. They are constructed of slenderbranches of trees, united at the top and closelycovered with skins or blankets. Within, water63 On the custom of bundling, see H. R. Stiles,Bundling; its Origin, Progress, and Decline in America(Albany, 1869). Editor.291