In this dark and filthy abode she had to remain a
year, without fire, exercise, or associates. Only her mother and a
female slave might supply her with nourishment. Her food was put in
at the little window; she had to drink out of the wing-bone of a
white-headed eagle. The time of her seclusion was afterwards reduced
in some places to six or three months or even less. She had to wear
a sort of hat with long flaps, that her gaze might not pollute the
sky; for she was thought unfit for the sun to shine upon, and it was
imagined that her look would destroy the luck of a hunter, fisher,
or gambler, turn things to stone, and do other mischief. At the end
of her confinement her old clothes were burnt, new ones were made,
and a feast was given, at which a slit was cut in her under lip
parallel to the mouth, and a piece of wood or shell was inserted to
keep the aperture open. Among the Koniags, an Esquimau people of
Alaska, a girl at puberty was placed in a small hut in which she had
to remain on her hands and feet for six months; then the hut was
enlarged a little so as to allow her to straighten her back, but in
this posture she had to remain for six months more.
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