Chapter X: ――indian Tribes (1)

THE North American Indians are of a red copper color, with some diversity of shade. The men are of the middle stature, large boned, and well made; with small black eyes, lodged in deep sockets, high cheek bones, nose more or less aquiline, mouth large, lips rather thick, and the hair of the head black, straight, and coarse. In some tribes, they carefully extract the hair of the beard and other parts of the body, and hence were long believed destitute of that excrescence. The general expression of the countenance is gloomy and severe. Formerly, some tribes flattened the heads of their infants by artificial pressure; but at present, that practice is unknown to the east of the Rocky mountains. They have a sound understanding, quick apprehension, and retentive memory, with an air of indifference in their general behavior.

The women, or _squaws_, differ considerably from the men, both in person and features. They are commonly short, with homely, broad faces; but have often an expression of mildness and sweetness in their looks.

Except when engaged in war, hunting and fishing are the sole employments of the men. By means of these, by the spontaneous productions of the earth, and by a partial cultivation of the soil, they procure a precarious subsistence; feasting freely when successful in the chase, but capable of great abstinence, when provisions are less plentiful. Some of the tribes, when first visited by Europeans, raised considerable crops; and they taught the early settlers in New England to plant and dress maize. At present, several nations cultivate maize, beans, pumpkins, and water-melons; and in this way considerably increase their means of subsistence.

The sight, smell, and hearing of the Indians, being frequently and attentively exercised, are all remarkably acute. They can trace the footsteps of man or beast through the forest, and over the plain and mountain, where an inexperienced eye cannot discern the slightest vestige. They can often judge, with much accuracy, how many persons have been in the company, how long it is since they passed, and even, at times, to what nation they belonged. They can pursue their course through the pathless forest, or over the snowy mountain, with undeviating certainty, and are guided by marks which entirely escape the notice of an European.

Strangers to letters, and untutored by learning, their passions, which are little curbed by parental authority, grow up wild and unpruned, like the trees of their native forests. They are fickle and capricious; irascible and impetuous; kind to their friends, vindictive and cruel towards their enemies; and in order to execute their revenge, they readily exercise dissimulation and deceit, and shrink from no toil or danger. Their distinguishing qualities are strength, cunning, and ferocity; and as war is their first employment, so bravery is their first virtue.

The ancient weapon of the hunter was the bow and arrow; but most of them have now procured guns. Their dress differs considerably in different tribes. It consisted originally of skins; but many of them are now provided with blankets and different kinds of cloth. The dress of the Konzas, a tribe on the Missouri, may serve as a sample. They protect their feet with _moccasons_, or shoes made of dressed deer, elk, or buffalo skin: _leggins_ of deer skin reach to the upper part of the thigh: a _breech-cloth_ passes between the legs, and is attached to a girdle fastened round the loins. A blanket or skin covers the upper part of the body; but in warm weather it is laid aside. In some tribes, the hair is allowed to flow loosely over the face and shoulders; in others, it is carefully braided, knotted and ornamented, and is always well greased. In many cases, the head is bare, both in summer and winter; but in others, both men and women wear a cap like an inverted bowl. The men have also a war cap, which they put on as a symbol of mourning, or when preparing for battle. It is commonly decorated with the feathers of rare birds, or with the claws of beavers or eagles, or other similar ornaments. A quill or feather is also suspended from it for every enemy that the warrior has slain in battle. They often suspend from their ears wampum beads, silver and tin trinkets, and they are fond of bracelets and rings. The face and body are often besmeared with a mixture of grease and coal. They are very attentive to personal decoration; and vermilion is an important article at their toilet. The faces of the men are painted with more care than those of the women; and the latter have more pride in adorning the countenances of their husbands than their own. A tobacco pouch, attached to the girdle or carried in the hand, is a usual part of their equipment. The women’s dress is partly like that of the men; but their leggins only reach to the knee; they have sleeveless shifts, which come down to the ankle, and a mantle covers all.

The _wigwams_, tents, or lodges of the Indians, are differently constructed in different nations. The rudest are formed of branches, resting against each other at the top, covered with leaves or grass, and forming a very imperfect shelter against the weather. The nations on the west of the Rocky mountains have houses formed of a frame of sticks, covered with mats and dried grass. Many tribes erect long poles, in a circular form at the bottom, and resting against each other at the top, which they cover with skins; others have oblong lodges, consisting of a wooden frame, covered with grass mats and earth. The light is admitted by a small door, and by an aperture in the top, which serves also for the escape of the smoke. The fire is in the middle of the lodge, and the family sit round it on the bare ground; but they spread a skin for a stranger. They readily kindle a fire, by rapidly turning one piece of smooth wood upon another; but in the vicinity of Europeans, they are now generally provided with flint and steel.

Illustration: Movable Lodges of the Kaskaias.

Their scanty and simple furniture and culinary utensils are suited to their humble dwellings and homely manner of life. A kettle, a wooden bowl, a couple of wooden or horn spoons, a few skins for beds and covers, and a buffalo’s stomach for carrying water, are the chief articles of domestic accommodation. Formerly they used earthen pots; but these are now generally superseded by metallic pots and kettles, purchased from the white traders.

Many of the tribes are strangers to bread and salt. Besides fruits and roots, they feed on the flesh of the animals they kill, boiled or roasted. In travelling, _pemmican_ is their favorite food. It consists of flesh cut into thin slices, dried in the sun or over a slow fire, beat to a coarse powder between two stones, mixed with grease, and then carefully packed up. In different nations it is known by different names.

Among the tribes who practise cultivation, maize is sometimes roasted in the ashes, and sometimes bruised and boiled, and is then called _hominy_. They also boil and eat wild rice, which grows in considerable quantities in some parts of the country. They have no fixed time for meals, but eat when they are hungry. They present food to a stranger, at what time soever he enters their dwelling.

Polygamy is very common among them; and the husband occasionally finds it necessary to administer a little wholesome castigation to his more quarrelsome or refractory squaws. But many are satisfied with one wife. The care of the tent, and the whole drudgery of the family, devolve on the women. They gather fuel, cook the provisions, and repair every article of dress; cultivate the ground, where any is cultivated; carry the baggage on a journey; and pitch the tent when they halt. In these and similar employments, their lordly fathers, husbands, and brothers think it degrading to assist them, and unworthy of warriors to engage in such employments.

The Indians never chastise their children, especially the boys; thinking that it would damp their spirits, check their love of independence, and cool their martial ardor, which they wish above all things to encourage. ‘Reason,’ say they, ‘will guide our children, when they come to the use of it; and before that, their faults cannot be very great.’ They avoid compulsory measures, and allow the boys to act with uncontrolled freedom; but endeavor by example, instruction, and advice, to train them to diligence and skill in hunting; to animate them with patience, courage, and fortitude in war; and to inspire them with contempt of danger, pain and death,――qualities of the highest order in the estimation of an Indian.

By gentleness and persuasion they endeavor to imbue the minds of their children with virtuous sentiments, according to their notions of virtue. The aged chiefs are zealous in this patriotic labor, and the squaws give their cordial co-operation.

Ishuchenau, an old Kanza warrior, often admonished the group of young auditors who gathered around him of their faults, and exhorted them never to tell a lie, and never to steal, except from an enemy, whom it is just to injure in every possible way. ‘When you become men,’ said he, ‘be brave and cunning in war, and defend your hunting grounds against all encroachments: never suffer your squaws and little ones to want; protect them and strangers from insult. On no occasion betray a friend; be revenged on your enemies; drink not the poisonous strong water of the white people, for it is sent by the bad Spirit to destroy the Indians. Fear not death; none but cowards fear to die. Obey and venerate old people, particularly your parents. Fear and propitiate the bad Spirit, that he may do you no harm; love and adore the Good Spirit, who made us all, who supplies our hunting grounds, and keeps all alive.’ After recounting his achievements, he was wont to add, ‘Like a decayed prairie tree, I stand alone:――the friends of my youth, the companions of my sports, my toils, and my dangers, rest their heads on the bosom of our mother. My sun is fast descending behind the western hills, and I feel it will soon be night with me.’ Then with hands and eyes lifted towards heaven, he thanked the Great Spirit for having spared him so long, to show the young men the true path to glory and fame.

Their opinions, in many instances, are false, and lead to corresponding errors in conduct. In some tribes, the young person is taught to pray, with various superstitious observances, that he may be a great hunter, horse-stealer, and warrior; so that thus the fountain of virtue is polluted.

The Indians are entirely unacquainted with letters; but they have a kind of picture-writing, which they practise on the inside of the bark of trees, or on skins prepared for the purpose, and by which they can communicate the knowledge of many facts to each other.

The Indian names are descriptive of the real or supposed qualities of the persons to whom they belong: they often change them in the course of their lives. The young warrior is ambitious of acquiring a new name; and stealing a horse, scalping an enemy, or killing a bear, are achievements which entitle him to choose one for himself, and the nation confirms it.

The Indian women are industrious wives and affectionate mothers. They are attentive to the comfort of their husbands, watch over their children with the utmost care and tenderness; and if they die, lament the loss in the most affecting manner. Chastity is not, in some tribes, reckoned a virtue; and, as the women are considered the property of the men, a deviation from it, with the consent of the father, husband, or brother, is not looked on as an offence. Nay, to countenance their wives, sisters, or daughters in conferring favors on strangers, is considered a strong expression of hospitality; and refusal of the proffered kindness is regarded by the lady as an unpardonable insult. But some husbands, on discovering unauthorized conjugal infidelity, punish it with severity; others treat it very lightly.

The Indians are kind and hospitable to their friends, and to those who are introduced to them in that character. Although they themselves sit on the bare ground, yet they courteously spread a buffalo skin for their visiter; smoke a pipe with him in token of peace and amity; and the squaw prepares something for him to eat. They are ready to share their last morsel with their friends.

They are immoderately addicted to intoxicating liquors, which they procure from the white traders, and which have been the means of destroying multitudes of them. Before their intercourse with white men, they had no intoxicating beverage; and, excepting the liquor which they procure from the merchants, their meals are temperate, and their habits of life active. Their diseases are few, and seldom of long duration. Many of them fall in battle, and multitudes are occasionally swept away by smallpox. To the healing art they are in a great measure strangers; although, by means of simples, they in some instances perform surprising cures. In general, however, these pretenders to medical skill are mere quacks and jugglers, who affect to chase away disease by howling, blowing on the patient, and by various incantations, slight-of-hand performances, and superstitious rites.

Some of their medical men pretend to have seen the Great Spirit, and to have conversed with him in some visible form, as of a buffalo, beaver, or other animal, and to have received from him some medicine of peculiar efficacy. The animal whose form had appeared is considered to be the remedy; and they imitate its cry in making their medical applications. The medicine bag, in which these savage physicians have a few herbs, entire or pulverized, and which they administer with a little warm water, is an indispensable requisite in Indian medical practice. Indeed, the head of every family has his medicine bag, which is a place of sacred deposit, and to the sanctity of which he commits his most precious articles. The value of its contents an Indian only can appreciate.

In every stage of society, persons appear who accommodate themselves to the state of the public mind. Of this description are the jugglers, conjurers, or powahs, among the ignorant and superstitious Indians. They are partly medical quacks, partly religious impostors. Many of them are dexterous jugglers and cunning cheats. They pretend to foretell future events, and even to influence the weather. It is likely that they are often, in some measure, the dupes of their own artifices.

The sweating houses of the Indians are often employed for medical purposes, although they are places of social recreation also. A hole is dug in the ground, and over it is built a small close hut, with an opening just large enough to admit the patient. A number of heated stones are placed in the bottom of the hole. The patient enters, having a vessel full of water along with him; and being seated on a place prepared for his reception, the entrance is closed. He sprinkles water on the heated stones, and is soon, by the steam, thrown into a state of profuse perspiration. After this has continued for some time, the person is taken out and plunged into cold water. This process is repeated several times, always ending with the steam-bath. The Indians use this as a general remedy; but its salutary effects are experienced chiefly in rheumatic diseases, in which its efficacy is at times very great.

The Indians bear disease with composure and resignation; and, when far advanced in life, often long for the hour of dissolution. ‘It is better,’ said an aged sachem, ‘to sit than to stand, to sleep than to be awake, to be dead than alive.’ The dying man exhorts his children to be industrious, kind to their friends, but implacable to their enemies. He rejoices in the hope of immortality. He is going to the land of spirits, that happy place where there is plenty of game and no want, where the path is smooth and the sky clear.

When the sick person expires, the friends assemble round the body, the women weep and clap their hands, and bewail their loss with loud lamentations. Different nations dispose of the bodies of departed friends, and express their grief in different ways. Many Indian tribes bury their dead soon after death. They wrap up the body carefully in a buffalo robe, or dressed skin, and carry it to the grave on the shoulders of two or three men. Along with the body, they bury a pair or two of moccasons, some meat, and other articles, to be used in the land of spirits. The favorite weapons and utensils of the warrior are also deposited by his side. It is believed by several tribes that unless this be done, the spirit of the deceased appears among the trees near his lodge, and does not go to its rest till the property withheld be committed to the grave. In some places, they discharge muskets, make a noise, and violently strike the trees, in order to drive away the spirit, which they imagine fondly lingers near its old abode. A mound is sometimes raised over the grave, proportioned in size to the dignity of the deceased; or the place is marked out and secured by short sticks driven into the ground over and around it. Some of those graves are commonly near each of their villages.

On the death of a relation, the survivors give way to excessive grief, bedaub themselves with white clay, blacken their faces, cut off their hair, and not unfrequently mangle themselves in a shocking manner, thrusting knives or arrows into the muscular parts of their thighs or arms, or cutting off a joint of one of their fingers. For a while they nightly repair to the place of sepulture to give expression to their grief; and may occasionally be seen affectionately plucking the grass from the grave of a deceased relation or friend.

Among those tribes where provisions are scarce, and procured with difficulty, it is not uncommon for an aged person, who is unable to provide for himself, to request his family to put him to death; and the request is complied with, or he is treated with much neglect. But this unnatural conduct results entirely from the pressure of circumstances, and the privations and sufferings to which those poor people are exposed; for in more favorable situations, they behave towards the aged and infirm with respect and tenderness.

Of the religion of the Indians we have no full and clear account. Indeed, of the opinions of a people who have nothing more than a few vague and indefinite notions, no distinct explanation can be given. On this subject, the Indians are not communicative; and to obtain a thorough knowledge of it would require familiar, attentive, unsuspected, and unprejudiced observation. But such observation is not easily made; and a few general, and on some points uncertain, notices only can be given.

On looking at the most renowned nations of the ancient heathen world, we see the people prostrating themselves before innumerable divinities; and we are ready to conclude that polytheism is the natural belief of man, unenlightened by revelation. But a survey of the vast wilds of America will correct this opinion. For there we find a multitude of nations, widely separated from each other, all believing in one Supreme God, a great and good spirit, the father and master of life, the maker of heaven and earth and of all other creatures. They believe themselves entirely dependent on him, thank him for present enjoyments, and pray to him for the good things they desire to obtain. They consider him the author of all good; and believe he will reward or punish them according to their deeds.

They believe in inferior spirits, also, both good and bad, whom they consider tutelary spirits. The Indians are careful observers of dreams, and think themselves deserted by the Master of life, till they receive a revelation in a dream; that is, till they dream of some object, as a buffalo, or beaver, or something else, which they think is an intimation that the Great Spirit has given them that object as a charm, or medicine. Then they are full of courage, and proud of their powerful ally. To propitiate the medicine, every exertion is made, and every personal consideration sacrificed. ‘I was lately the proprietor of seventeen horses,’ said a Mandan; ‘but I have offered them all to my medicine, and am now poor.’ He had turned all these horses, which constituted the whole of his wealth, loose into the plain, committed them to his medicine, and abandoned them forever. But, although they offer oblations to the medicines, they positively deny that they pay them any adoration, and affirm that they only worship the Great Spirit through them.

They have no regular periodical times either of private or public religious worship. They have neither temples, altars, stated ministers of religion, nor regular sacrifices; for the jugglers are connected rather with the medical art than with religious services. The Indians in general, like other ignorant people, are believers in witchcraft, and think many of their diseases proceed from the arts of sorcerers. These arts the jugglers pretend to counteract, as well as to cure natural diseases. They also pretend to predict the weather and to make rain; and much confidence is placed in their prognostications and their power.

The devotional exercises of the Indians consist in singing, dancing, and performing various mystical ceremonies, which they believe efficacious in healing the sick, frustrating the designs of their enemies, and securing their own success. They often offer up to the Great Spirit a part of the game first taken in a hunting expedition, a part of the first produce of their fields, and a part of their food. At a feast, they first throw some of the broth, and then of the meat, into the fire. In smoking, they generally testify their reverence for the Master of life, by directing the first puff upwards, and the second downwards, or the first to the rising, and the second to the setting sun; at other times, they turn the pipe to every point of the compass.

They firmly believe in the immortality of the soul, and in a state of future retribution; but their conceptions on these subjects are modified and tinged by their occupations in life, and by their notions of good and evil. They suppose the spirit retains the same inclinations as when in the body, and rejoices in its old pursuits. At times, an Indian warrior, when about to kill and scalp a prostrate enemy, addresses him in such terms as the following:――

‘My name is Cashegra: I am a famous warrior, and am going to kill you. When you reach the land of spirits, you will see the ghost of my father; tell him it was Cashegra sent you there.’ The uplifted tomahawk then descends upon his victim.

The Mandans expect, when they die, to return to the original subterraneous abode of their fathers: the good reaching the ancient village by means of the lake, which the weight of the sins of the bad will render them unable to pass. They who have behaved themselves well in this life, and been brave warriors and good hunters, will be received into the town of brave and generous spirits; but the useless and selfish will be doomed to reside in the town of poor and useless spirits.

The belief of those untutored children of nature has an influence on their conduct. Among them, the grand defect is, an erroneous estimate of good and evil, right and wrong. But how much soever we may lament their errors on these interesting points, we need not be surprised at them; for how many, even in more enlightened communities, and with clearer means of information, can scarcely be said to have sounder principles or a better practice? A reverential and grateful sense of the divine perfections and government, manifesting itself by a devout regard to his institutions and obedience to his will, by benevolence, integrity, candor and kindness towards men, and by sobriety and industry, is too little valued and practised by many who enjoy the light of revelation. Hitherto the Indians have learned little but vice by their intercourse with white men.

Although they have no regular system of religious worship, yet they have many superstitious notions; some of them of a more general, others of a more local nature. The Mandans have their medicine stone, which is their great oracle; and they believe with implicit confidence whatever it announces. Every spring, and occasionally during summer, a deputation, accompanied by jugglers, magicians, or conjurers, visits the sacred spot, where there is a large stone, about twenty feet in circumference, with a smooth surface: there the deputies smoke, taking a few whiffs themselves, and then ceremoniously offering the pipe to the stone. They leave their presents, and withdraw to some distance during the night. Before morning, the presents have disappeared, the Great Spirit having, according to their belief, taken them away; and they read the destinies of their nation in some marks on the stone, which the jugglers, who have made them, and secretly manage the whole transaction, can easily decipher. The Minnetarees have also a stone of the same kind.

On the northern bank of the lower part of the Missouri, there is a singular range of rocks, rising almost perpendicularly about two or three hundred feet above the level of the river. These rocks the Indians call Wakon, or spirit, and on or near them, the neighboring nations deposit most of their offerings to the Great Spirit, or Father of life; because they imagine he either inhabits or frequently visits those rocks, and offerings presented there will sooner attract his notice and gain his favor than any where else. Those offerings consist of various articles, among which eagles’ feathers are held in highest estimation; and they are presented in order to obtain success in war or hunting.

They believe also in the existence of evil spirits, but think these malevolent beings gratify their malignity chiefly by driving away the game, preventing the efficacy of medicine, or similar injuries. But they do not always confine their operations to such petty mischiefs; for Mackenzie, in his first voyage, was warned of a spirit, behind a neighboring island, which swallowed up every person who approached it: and near the White Stone river of the Missouri, there is an oblong mound, about seventy feet high, called by the Indians the Mountain of Little People, or Little Spirits which are supposed to be malignant beings in human shape, about eighteen inches high, with remarkably large heads. They are provided with sharp arrows, in the use of which they are very expert; and they are always on the watch to kill those who approach the mountain of their residence. The tradition is, that many persons have fallen victims to their malevolence; and such is the terror of them among the neighboring nations, that on no consideration will they approach the mound.

Among the Indians, society is in the loosest state in which it can possibly exist. They have no regular magistrates, no laws, no tribunals, to protect the weak or punish the guilty. Every man must assert his own rights, and avenge his own wrongs. He is neither restrained nor protected by any thing but a sense of shame and the approbation or disapprobation of his tribe. He acknowledges no master, and submits to no superior authority; so that an Indian community seems like a mound of sand on the sea-shore, which one gale has accumulated, and which the next may disperse.

But, amidst this apparent disunion, the Indian is strongly attached to his nation. He is jealous of its honor, proud of its success, and zealous for its welfare. Guided by a few traditionary notions, and by the opinion and example of those around him, he is ready to exert all his energies, and sacrifice even life itself for his country. Here sentiment and habit do more than wise laws can elsewhere accomplish.

Where all are equally poor, the distinctions founded on wealth cannot exist; and among a people where experience is the only source of knowledge, the aged men are naturally the sages of the nation. Surrounded by enemies, and exposed to continual peril, the strongest, boldest, and most successful warrior is highly respected; and the influence gained in youth by courage and enterprise is often retained in old age by wisdom and eloquence. In many of the tribes, the chiefs have a sort of hereditary rank; but, in order to maintain it, they must conciliate the good will of the most influential persons of the community. They have nothing like monarchical revenues, pomp, or authority, but maintain their distinction by bravery, good conduct and generosity.

The most important concerns of the tribe are discussed in a council composed of the chiefs and warriors, in which the principal chief presides. Every member delivers his opinion with freedom, and is heard with attention. Their proceedings are considered sacred, and are kept a profound secret, unless it be thought the public good requires a disclosure. In that case the decision, with the reasons on which it is founded, is published by a member of the council, who recommends a compliance with it. In the stillness of the morning or evening, this herald marches through the village, solemnly communicating the information, and giving suitable exhortations. He also instructs the young men and children how to behave, in order to gain the esteem of good men, and the approbation of the Good Spirit.

The authority of the chiefs and warriors is hortatory rather than coercive. They have influence to persuade, but not power to compel. They are rather respected as parents and friends, than feared and obeyed as superiors. The chief is merely the most confidential person among the warriors; neither installed with any ceremony, nor distinguished by any badge. He may recommend, or advise, or influence; but he has no power to enforce his commands, or to punish disobedience. In many of the tribes he gradually acquires his rank by his own superior merit, and the good opinion of his companions; and he may lose his authority as he gained it.

The people commonly settle their controversies among themselves, and do not apply to their chiefs, except for advice. In some of the tribes, peace is preserved and punishment inflicted in a very summary manner by officers appointed by the chief for that purpose. These officers are distinguished by having their bodies blackened, and by having two or three ravens’ skins fixed in their girdles behind, so that the tails project horizontally. They have also a raven’s skin, with the tail projecting from their forehead. These officers, of whom there are two or three in a village, and who are frequently changed, beat any person whom they find acting in a disorderly manner. Their authority is held sacred, and none dares resist them. They often attend the chief, and consider it a point of honor to execute his orders at any risk.

The eloquence of the Indian orators occasionally displays itself in strong and figurative expressions, accompanied with violent but not unnatural gesticulations. Many of their speeches are on record; and some, for rhetorical effect, would do credit to the parliament of a refined nation.

The wars of the Indians most commonly originate in the stealing of horses, or in the elopement of squaws; sometimes in encroachments on their hunting grounds, or in the prosecution of old quarrels, and the desire of avenging the murder of relations. These wars are conducted in a predatory manner.

A single warrior sometimes undertakes an expedition against the enemy; but, in cases of great provocation, the whole tribe engages in the enterprise, under the conduct of the principal chief. Even in this case, however, none but volunteers join the army: no one is obliged to march against his will.

War is often carried on by a small predatory party, formed by the influence of some approved warrior. Among the Omawhas, the warrior paints himself with white clay, and marches through the village, crying aloud to the _Wahconda_, or _Father of life_, and entreating the young warriors of the nation to have pity on him, and to accompany him in an expedition against their enemies. He gives a feast to those who are willing to follow him; and it is distinctly understood that they who partake of his hospitality pledge themselves to be partners in his enterprise. At the feast he harangues them, and tells them they must gain celebrity by their martial prowess. This leader of the party, to whom the French gave the name of partisan, busies himself, before setting out, in making medicine, hanging out his medicine bag, fasting, attending to his dreams, and other superstitious observances. On the medicine bag, much reliance is placed for the successful termination of the adventure. It usually contains the skin of a sparrow-hawk, and a number of small articles, such as wampum beads and tobacco, all attached to a belt, neatly enveloped in bark, and tied round with strings of the same material. It is of a cylindrical shape, about one, or sometimes two feet long, and is suspended on the back of the partisan by its belt, which passes round his neck. The moccasons, leggins, and arms of the party are put in order, and each warrior furnishes himself with some provisions.

With the partisan at their head, the party set out, march cautiously, following each other in a line, at a distance of two or three paces, often treading in each others’ footsteps, that their number may not be discovered, and they send out spies to explore their route. They easily find out whether any persons have lately passed the same way, by discerning their footsteps on the grass; and as they have to deal with people whose organs of sense are as acute as their own, they are careful, as far as possible, to conceal their own tracks. On halting, the medicine bag is not allowed to touch the ground, but is suspended on a forked stick, firmly fixed in the earth for that purpose. They smoke to it, occasionally turning the stem of the pipe towards it, towards the heavens, and towards the earth. The partisan carefully attends to his dreams, and, if he think them ominous of evil, he at times abandons the enterprise.

When the spies bring information that they are near the enemy, the partisan opens his medicine bag, removes its barky envelope, and suspends the contents from his neck, with the bird skin, wampum, and other articles hanging down on his breast. This is the signal to prepare for action. If they have time, they paint themselves and smoke: they also paint their shields with rude representations of the objects on which they rely for success. The partisan gives the order to advance, and they move on with cautious steps, as their great aim is to fall upon the enemy by surprise. If they succeed in this, the attack begins with the horrible yell of the war-whoop. This is their only martial music. They kill, indiscriminately, all who fall in their way; but if discovered, they either make a hasty retreat, or rush to the attack with impetuous but disorderly fury. If in the forest, they shelter themselves behind trees; if on open ground, they leap nimbly from side to side, to prevent the enemy from taking a steady aim, and cover themselves with their bucklers.

Illustration: Otto Encampment.

It is not the mere killing of an enemy that confers the highest honor on an Indian warrior, but the striking the body of his fallen foe on the field of battle, and in presence of his friends, who are eager to avenge his death. Scalping is an act of no small celebrity in Indian warfare; and, in performing it, the victor sets one foot on the neck of his dead or disabled enemy, entwines one hand in his hair, and, by a few slashes of the scalping knife in his other, round the top of the head, is enabled to pull off the skin with the hair. Carrying away the scalp is simply a mark of victory, the taking of prisoners is reckoned a high honor.

The wounded of the vanquished party are killed by the conquerors on the field of battle, and their bodies shockingly mangled; the squaws so far overcoming by habit the tender feelings of the female breast as to take an active part in the inhuman scene. Indeed, they are more cruel than the men.

In his lodge, the Indian is indolent, sedate, and apparently callous; but in hunting, or in quest of an enemy, he is keen, indefatigable, persevering: on the field of battle, he seems an infuriated demon: so different are his appearances in different circumstances. The victorious party bury their dead, or cover them with bushes or stones. They remove their wounded in litters, borne on men’s shoulders; or, if they have horses, on a car of two shafts, with a buffalo skin stretched between them. They return rapidly to their village, and commonly halt on some elevated ground in its vicinity. Their friends, eager to be informed of the particulars of the expedition, hasten to meet them. The party enters the village with savage pomp, ostentatiously exhibiting the scalps which they have taken, raised on poles. Many of the warriors bear the mark indicative of having drunk the blood of an enemy. This consists in rubbing the hand all over with vermilion, and then pressing it on the face and mouth, so as to leave a complete impression. On those occasions, the wives of the warriors who have been engaged in the enterprise, attire themselves in the dress of their husbands, and, with rods in their hands, to which the scalps that have been taken are attached, dance round a large red post, and, in concert with the young warriors, sing the war and scalp songs. This barbarous dance, which is repeated every night for some weeks, is charming to the squaws; a circumstance which shows how far the human character may be perverted by fashion and habit.

The Indians dance and sing at the same time: they have, however, but little grace or variety in their movements, and little music in their notes. Their musical instruments are a sort of drum, and a rattle, or skin bag, with small shot or pebbles in it, which makes a noise when shaken.

It is dangerous to meet a disappointed or defeated war party on its return, as the warriors are apt to indemnify themselves for any disappointment, defeat, or loss they may have sustained, by taking the property and scalps of the first weak or unguarded party they may encounter.

No offence against society is inquired into by the chiefs: stealing from one of their own tribe, which is very rare, exposes the thief to contempt; but cowardice is marked by the highest reprobation. When they go to war, they keep a watchful eye on such of the young men as are making their first essay in arms. If they display the necessary qualifications, they are in due time admitted to the rank of warriors, or, as they express it, of brave men. But if any give clear indications of cowardice, on the return of the party, they are treated with neglect and contempt. A coward is at times punished even with death.

The female prisoners are made slaves, a condition scarcely worse than that of the other squaws. The young male prisoners are often adopted by the families of the tribe which have taken them, and supply the place of the members that have fallen in the expedition. Sometimes, on returning to their village, the party show their prisoner a painted red post, distant from twenty to forty yards, and bid him run and lay hold of it. On each side of his course stand men and women with axes, sticks, and other offensive weapons, ready to strike him as he passes. If he instantly spring forward with agility, he may perhaps reach the post without receiving a stroke, and is then safe, till a general council of the warriors determine his fate; but if he fall, he is probably despatched.

If the prisoner be rejected by the family to which he is offered, he is then put to death with every circumstance of cruelty; and the constancy and fortitude of the sufferer are as remarkable as the barbarity of his murderers. The victim, fastened to a stake, sings his death song, insults his tormentors, bears with unshrinking firmness the most dreadful tortures, and expires without a groan. He triumphs in his fortitude, not merely as a personal virtue, but chiefly as a national characteristic. We are to seek the cause of this patient endurance of the most excruciating pains, not in any nervous insensibility, any constitutional apathy, any muscular rigidity of the Indian, but in the sentiments which he has imbibed and the habits to which he has been trained. He has been taught, from infancy, to consider courage and fortitude as the glory of man; to endure privations and pain without a murmur, and with an unsubdued heart, and to despise tortures and death; and, in his last moments, he proves the efficacy of the education which he has received. In these tragical scenes, the women always take an active part; and their inhumanity, like the fortitude of the men, springs from education.

Previous to their intercourse with Europeans, the arms of the Indians were bows and arrows, spears, tomahawks, scalping knives, and war clubs. Most of them, however, are now provided with fire arms; and, being eager to procure them, their quantity is continually increasing. But the use of these original weapons is far from being entirely superseded.

At times, the bow is formed of pieces of horn neatly spliced; but it is more commonly made of wood. Formerly, the arrow was pointed with flint or bone, but now generally with iron: the spear is pointed in a similar manner. The tomahawk is a hatchet or war axe. The scalping knife is used to cut and tear off the scalp, or integuments of the upper part of the skull with the hair, of their fallen enemies, which the Indians display as trophies of their victory, with as much exultation as ancient heroes manifested in showing the arms of their vanquished foes. The head of the war club is globular, and at times hollow, inclosing pieces of metal, which make a gingling noise when a stroke is given. Occasionally, the blade of a knife, or some other sharp instrument, is fastened to the end of it at right angles. The tribes who dwell in the depth of the forest have no bucklers, but shelter themselves behind trees: those, however, who live in an open country, as on the banks of the Missouri, use bucklers or shields of a circular form, about two feet and a half in diameter, and composed of three or four folds of buffalo’s skin, dried in the sun and hardened. These shields are proof against arrows, but not against ball.

In all their acts of devotion, and on all occasions where their confidence is to be won or their friendship secured, smoking is regarded as an inviolable token of sincerity.

The pipe or calumet, as some have called it, is the symbol of peace and the pledge of friendship. Among the rude dwellers of the desert, it serves the same purposes as a flag of truce in the armies of more civilized communities. The pipe is about four feet long; the bowl made of stone or clay, and the stem of a light wood. It is differently ornamented in different nations. The bearer of this sacred symbol of friendship is seldom treated with disrespect, because they believe the Great Spirit would not allow such an iniquity to escape with impunity.

Peace is concluded, and treaties ratified, by smoking. Wampum, and wampum belts, are also commonly used on such occasions. Wampum, formerly, and now among some tribes, the current coin of the Indians, is formed of shells found on the coasts of New England and Virginia: some of those shells are of a purple color, others white; but the former are reckoned most valuable. They are cut into the shape of oblong beads, about a quarter of an inch long, perforated, and strung on a small leathern thong: several of these strings, neatly sewed together by fine sinewy threads, form a belt, consisting of ten, twelve, or more strings. The value of each bead, and, consequently, of each string or belt, is exactly known. The size of the belt, which is often about two feet long, and three or four inches broad, is proportioned to the solemnity and importance of the occasion on which it is given. The chiefs occasionally give strings to each other as tokens of friendship; but belts are reserved for the ratification of national treaties, every stipulation of which is recorded to posterity by the hieroglyphics on the belt.

Tribes in amity occasionally apply to each other for a supply of their wants. When one tribe is in need of any commodity with which another is well provided, the needy tribe send a deputation of their number to smoke with their wealthier neighbors, and to inform them of their wants; and it would be a breach of Indian courtesy to send them away without the expected supply. What they smoke is tobacco mixed with the inner bark of the willow.

The Shoshonees, a band on the Rocky mountains, before smoking with strangers, pull off their moccasons, in token of the sacred sincerity of their professions; and by this act they not only testify their sincerity, but also imprecate on themselves the misery of going barefooted forever, if they prove unfaithful to their word.

A number of different languages are spoken by the Indians; and, in some cases, different dialects of the same language are found among different tribes.

The original languages, beside that of the Esquimaux, are said to be principally three,――the Iroquois, the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, and the Floridian. These languages are so distinct, as to have no perceivable affinity. The Iroquois was spoken by the Iroquois or Six Nations, and several other tribes. The Iroquois, or Six Confederated Nations, so famous in Indian history, and once so formidable by their numbers, laws, and military prowess, are the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagoes, and Tuscaroras. The Delaware language was spoken by many nations in the middle provinces; and the Floridian by the Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, and other tribes in the southern states. Those languages are said to be copious and expressive: they often consist of long compounds, and comprise many ideas in one word.

The following observations on this interesting race of men are furnished by a person who has spent many years in intimate contact with several tribes of the north-west, and may, therefore, be considered good authority. He writes expressly for this work.

‘There are few topics on which so much has been written, and to so little purpose, as the character, manners, habits and origin of the aborigines of North America. Novelists, poets, travellers and philosophers have all failed to convey an adequate idea of them. This arises, in our opinion, in a great measure, from the modern propensity to generalization. A writer who has been present at an Indian council, has seen the _nonchalant_ demeanor of the chiefs, and has heard the tropes and metaphors with which they garnish their discourse, gravely states that the self-possession of all Indians can never be disturbed by any circumstances, and that the refinements of poetry and oratory are as familiar in their mouths as household words. Another, who sees the women performing the hard labor of their families, while the men stand idly by, pronounces that squaws are regarded as slaves. Now our experience assures us that the premises, on which such general conclusions are based, are almost always fallacious.

‘Little need be said concerning the origin of the American natives. The most probable conclusion is, that they immigrated into the new continent via Behring’s strait; but whether they came by that route, or crossed the Atlantic from Wales, or the Pacific, from Japan, certain it is that their physical peculiarities plainly distinguish them from all the races of the old world. We judge it safe to entertain an opinion once expressed in our presence by an old Indian. ‘Why must we have descended from your fathers?’ said he. ‘Is it not as reasonable to suppose that God created the Indian where he now is, as that he made the white man in the garden you have been talking about?’ This idea, if not sanctioned by the Mosaic account of the creation is, at least, not contradicted by it. We count the resemblances, which exist between the customs and traditions of certain tribes in both continents, as of very little importance. People living in different countries by similar pursuits, most necessarily fall into similar observances. Every tribe that lives on the banks of a stream or the ocean, must have witnessed a high tide or an overflow, and hence the almost universal tradition of a deluge. In our opinion, no importance ought to be attached to the accounts of Indians of their own origin. Some septs, like the Pawnees and Choctaws, say they sprang from the earth, the Incas descended from the sun, the Osages are contented with such progenitors as a snail and a beaver.

‘The idea that the present race of aborigines dispossessed a race more advanced in civilization and less warlike than themselves, seems to us to rest on no real foundation. The articles found with skeletons exhumed from barrows, are still in use among the more remote tribes. Indians still, occasionally, construct rude fortifications. The pottery, on which antiquarians rely as illustrative of this favorite theory, is made and used to this day by the remote Dahcotahs and Assinneboins. If the field works found in different parts of the country be adduced as proofs of the civilization of the supposed former race, we answer that they do not betoken the tenth part of the ingenuity displayed in the construction of a birch canoe.

‘The aborigines of America have generally been esteemed to be divided into two distinct races, viz. the Esquimaux and the red Indians. We doubt that the races are distinct. The Esquimaux are, indeed, milder in character, and less perfect in physical conformation than their southern neighbors; but is not the difference owing to climate and mode of life? Fishermen, and especially such fishermen as the Esquimaux, whose whole time and care is requisite to preserve life, cannot be warriors. People who, like the Esquimaux, live upon scanty food in an inhospitable clime, must necessarily be dwarfish. Bear witness tribes who live in the same manner on the old continent. Besides, captain Franklin informs us that those of this people who inhabit a less inhospitable coast than their brethren (those east of the Coppermine river) are of the ordinary stature of mankind.

‘Turning round Icy cape, we find the tribes along the north-west coast gradually losing the characteristics of Esquimaux, and assuming those of the red Indians. We are at a loss to divine, from the accounts of Cook, Kotzebue and Jewett, which of the two races the tribes of that region most resemble. At Nootka Sound, the savages are fishermen like the Esquimaux, and hunters and warriors like the tribes of the Mississippi. Wherever we find a tribe relying upon fisheries as a principal means of subsistence, we find the moral and physical character approximating toward that of the Esquimaux. In short, we see no difference between the two races which may not have been produced by something less than the will of the Almighty.

‘The physical appearance of the Indians has been too often described to need notice here. It is impossible even to conjecture what their number may be. Some idea of this may be gained from the fact that the Dahcotahs, who are able to muster six or seven thousand fighting men, scarcely support themselves on a tract of land eight hundred miles long and as many in breadth. Other tribes, who rely in some degree upon agriculture and fishing, are more thickly settled. Others, who occupy less favored regions, are less so.