At other times this man acts as a messenger or news carrier--first spreading his blanket to collect his fees, and then starting off on his mission.
MARRIAGE.
Many of the Indians in Mariposa and adjoining counties were polygamists, having two or three, and sometimes more, wives.

Some of the chiefs and head men would have wives from several of the adjacent tribes, which had a tendency to establish permanent friendly relations among them.
Every man who took a young woman for his wife had to buy her.
Young women were considered by their parents as personal chattels, subject to sale to the highest suitable bidder, and the payment of the price constituted the main part of the marriage ceremony.

The wife was then the personal property of the husband, which he might sell or gamble away if he wished; but such instances were said to be very rare.

In case negotiations for a marriage fell through, the preliminary payments were scrupulously returned to the rejected suitor by the parents.
Even a widow, independent of control in the matter of marriage, if she consented to become a man's wife, received some compensation herself from her intended husband.
[Illustration: _Photograph by Dore_.
A YOUNG YOSEMITE.
The babies are tied to their baskets to make them straight, and keep them out of mischief.] It is said that in their marital relations they were as a rule strictly faithful to each other.

If the woman was found to be guilty of unfaithfulness to her husband, the penalty was death.
Such a thing as a man whipping or beating his wife was never known.