"I am indisposed to matrimony in general, and more especially to all admixture of the varieties of species, which only tend to tarnish the beauty and to interrupt the harmony of nature.

Moreover, it is a painful innovation on the order of all nomenclatures." "Ay, ay, you have reason enough for your distaste to such a life; but should these Siouxes get you fairly into their village, such would be your luck, as certain as that the sun rises and sets at the pleasure of the Lord." "Marry me to a woman who is not adorned with the comeliness of the species!" responded the Doctor.

"Of what crime have I been guilty, that so grievous a punishment should await the offence?
To marry a man against the movements of his will, is to do a violence to human nature!" "Now, that you speak of natur', I have hopes that the gift of reason has not altogether deserted your brain," returned the old man, with a covert expression playing about the angles of his deep set eyes, which betrayed he was not entirely destitute of humour.

"Nay, they may conceive you a remarkable subject for their kindness, and for that matter marry you to five or six.

I have known, in my days, favoured chiefs who had numberless wives." "But why should they meditate this vengeance ?" demanded the Doctor, whose hair began to rise, as if each fibre was possessed of sensibility; "what evil have I done ?" "It is the fashion of their kindness.