Note 630 — Chapter IV · CALIFORNIANS. (continued 2)

'The women are exceedingly virtuous ... they are a kind of mercantile commodity in the hands of their masters. Polygamy prevails among the chiefs, but the number of wives is not unlimited.' Remy and Brenchley's Journ., vol. i., pp. 123-8. They are given to sensual excesses, and other immoralities. Farnham's Trav., p. 62; see also p. 60. 'Prostitution and illegitimacy are unknown ... they are not permitted to marry until eighteen or twenty years old ... it is a capital offence to marry any of another nation without special sanction from their council and head chief. They allow but one wife.' Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. At the time of their confinement the women 'sit apart; they never touch a cooking utensil, although it is not held impure to address them, and they return only when the signs of wrath have passed away.' Burton's City of the Saints, p. 573. 'Infidelity of the wife, or prostitution of an unmarried female, is punishable by death.' Davies, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 133. 'Our Pi-Ute has a peculiar way of getting a foretaste of connubial bliss, cohabiting experimentally with his intended for two or three days previous to the nuptial ceremony, at the end of which time, either party can stay further proceedings, to indulge other trials until a companion more congenial is found.' Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 155; Lewis and Clarke's Trav., pp. 307-8, 315; De Smet, Voy., p. 27.