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. Ablanket 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. Aquill 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. Atobacco 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.

Their scanty and simple furniture and culinary utensils are suited to their humble dwellings and homely manner of life. Akettle, 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, Istand 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 Ifeel 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. Ahole is dug in the ground, and over it is built a small close hut, with an opening just large enough to admit the patient. Anumber 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. Amound 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. ‘Iwas lately the proprietor of seventeen horses,’ said a Mandan; ‘but Ihave 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: Iam 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? Areverential 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.

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. Acoward 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. Awriter 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.

‘Two great families of Indians seem, from time immemorial, to have occupied the country between the Rocky mountains and the Atlantic, viz. the Dahcotahs, and the Chippeway, or Algonquin race. The former are divided into a great number of independent tribes, whose origin may be traced by similarity of language, habits and manners. The parent stock is divided into several septs, which are again subdivided into a great many minor hordes. The principal divisions are these: Munday Wawkantons, Sussetons, Wakhpaytons, Wawkhpaykootays, Yanktows and Tetons. These last live high upon the Missouri, and have little intercourse with the rest. The Assinneboins, a numerous and powerful tribe, who roam over the prairies between the Missouri and the Saskatchawayn, seceded from the Dahcotahs little more than a century ago, and a bloody war was long waged between them and the parent race. Awoman was the cause of quarrel. The Winnebagoes and Otoes, renowned for desperate bravery, the Ioways, the Osages, the Omahaws and many other western tribes, claim affinity with the Dahcotahs, and speak dialects of their tongue. The tradition concerning their origin, to which we give most credit, says, that they all came from Mexico at the time of the invasion of Cortez. The Winnebagoes hold the Spaniards in abhorrence to this day. Such of these tribes as inhabit the prairie region are vagrant, and live mainly by hunting the buffalo. Adescription of one will be a description of all of them. They are, generally, of the middle stature of mankind, and it is rare to see a Dahcotah who much exceeds or falls short of it, or who is in any wise deformed. They are beautifully formed: it is as rare to see an ill-made Dahcotah as a well-made white man. They are not muscular, nor are they so agile as whites commonly are; but in recompense, their powers of endurance are very great. They seem utterly insensible of fatigue, and patient of hunger, pain, and all other hardships.

‘Neither these, nor any other Indians with whom we are acquainted, are at all remarkable for gravity in their social intercourse. They are more taciturn, indeed, than the whites; but this is the result rather of circumstance than of education. Spending much time alone, they acquire a habit of silence; having fewer ideas than civilized men, they have fewer inducements to discourse. The conversation that does take place among them, however, is by no means characterized by reserve or by the absence of hilarity. In councils and on solemn occasions, it is judged decorous and proper to give no indication of feeling, and hence an apathetic gravity has long been thought a distinguishing attribute of the Indian character. Even were the assumption just, the aborigines would be no more remarkable in this respect than most modern Asiatic nations.

‘The character of Indians in general seems to have been viewed by most writers through a false medium, and their qualities have been inferred from the nature of their intercourse with white men. This is a false standard; to know them, one should live long among them and watch their social relations. Thus seen, they appear to much greater advantage than when hanging upon the frontiers doing or suffering wrong, and debasing themselves by theft, beggary and intemperance.

‘It will not be denied by any who know them, that those Indians who have not been corrupted by the whites are sincerely pious. They universally believe in one all-wise, benevolent and powerful God, to whom, however, they never pray; for, they say, he knows better what is good for them than they do themselves. Nothing shocks them more than to hear his name mentioned with irreverence by the whites. They also believe in an evil principle, whom they pray to do them no harm. They people all animated nature with inferior spirits, and to these they offer prayers and sacrifices. Their superstitions are numberless. They believe in a future state, and the world of spirits is, in their opinion, a fine hunting-ground, where the vexations and sufferings of this life will be unknown. Each man has what he calls his medicine; that is, he thinks fit to consider his fate and fortunes dependent on some animal, and that animal he will neither kill, eat, or treat with disrespect. In short, they have an infinite variety of such observances, and there is little uniformity in the belief of individuals.

‘Their priests are mere jugglers, who practise various mummeries, and are also, as is common among savages, physicians and surgeons, and, indeed, they mix medicine and religion together. Acure is effected by songs and superstitious rites as well as by the use of simples. The juggler’s voice and rattle are seldom still near the couch of a sick man. We are yet to learn that these quacks are much respected in their sacerdotal character, or that any great importance is attached to their ceremonies by the majority of the laity. One merit they have, and that is their skill in rough surgery. We have seen them effect astonishing cures. It may not be amiss to mention one, by way of example. Ahunter was grappled by a bear, that he had wounded, and dreadfully lacerated. His arm was broken in several places, and all who saw it thought he must die or submit to amputation. An Indian surgeon, however, undertook the cure and effected it. It is true that he was three years about it, and perhaps the abstemious habits of the patient were a main cause of his recovery.

‘As to government, the Dahcotah race have no king, and every man does what seems right in his own eyes. They have chiefs, indeed, who have, by tacit consent, the power of making treaties, and of transacting the business of their followers. Sometimes they lead in war, but, save on such occasions, authority they have none. They may advise, but cannot command. They receive no reward for their services, nor do they wear any badge of their rank. Indeed they are usually worse dressed and provided than other individuals, because it is considered peculiarly the duty of chiefs to be generous. The office is hereditary in families, but not in the direct line of descent. If the heir apparent be notoriously ineligible, he is set aside, and a more worthy kinsman takes his place. Highly distinguished warriors become war chiefs through the respect paid to their valor. Each village has one of these, who is called the war chief, to distinguish him from the hereditary leader. He rules in war, but not in civil affairs. Sometimes a chief acquires absolute power, but of that kind which strong minds gain over weak ones, and it behoves every leader to bear his faculties meekly.

‘Laws the Dahcotahs have none; but they have customs which have the force of laws, and which are seldom broken. Thus a man may have as many wives as he can maintain. Adultery is punished by cutting off the nose of the offending wife; the wife cuts the clothes of the offending husband to pieces. Life is taken for life, unless the homicide can appease the friends of the dead by the payment of a ransom. The murderer invariably gives himself up to punishment, for to fear death is considered the acme of dishonor. When minor offences are committed, the injured party kills the dogs and horses of his enemy, or destroys his tent before his eyes, and in such cases no resistance is offered. Divorces are at the option of the husband. Theft is not regarded as a crime; indeed, property is nearly in common among them, so that no theft can be committed. They apply this standard of morals to the whites, and so get the reputation of thieves, while themselves are unconscious of wrong doing. It is, in our opinion, this very community of goods that is the principal obstacle to their civilization and improvement; for it cannot be expected that one man will sow for all the world to reap, or that he will weary his limbs in the chase to obtain what will not belong to him or his family. Those tribes who hold the right of property in most esteem, as, for example, the Saques and Foxes, have made the greatest advances in civilization.

‘Another obstacle to the civilization of our aborigines is their unconquerable indolence. The savage is content with the bare necessaries of life; he neither knows nor cares for its luxuries and superfluities. Necessity only will compel him to exertion. Tribes, whose limits have been so circumscribed by the whites that they cannot live by the chase, have resorted to labor for subsistence; but we think no other force of reason or circumstance will bring about such a result.

‘However strange such an assertion may appear, we confidently affirm that Indians are not more revengeful than other people. They have the same feelings and passions as other men, neither stronger nor weaker. They are kind to each other. Every offence but murder is readily forgiven, and even that crime seldom finds its due punishment. Nine murderers out of ten among them go down to the grave in peace. An Indian rarely goes much out of his way for revenge. Time and opportunity being ministered, an individual will wreak a long-smothered resentment, and so, we presume, would any other man, if freed from the restraints of law. We take it upon us to say that murders are not so frequent among them as with ourselves, and that these, as well as all minor injuries, are not so often or so fearfully avenged by Indians as by white men. As it regards wrongs committed by enemies of the tribe, the case is different. These, the savage is taught, it is his duty to requite upon any member of the hostile nation. Such vengeance it is his glory to take, and it is one of the first requisitions of his moral code.

‘The courage of Indians is not to be measured by our standard. In a mere clan, the loss of an individual is severely felt. It subtracts largely from the strength of the band and the happiness of his family. Discretion, therefore, is considered the better part of valor. The war chief who conquers the enemy does well; but he who conquers without loss to himself does infinitely better. It is thought honorable to avoid risk as much as possible, and the decision of quarrels by single combat is called folly and madness. But when they have resolved on battle, no people strive more valiantly. Our history bears witness of the furious energy of their valor. Their ideas of moral courage might be adopted with advantage by all who call them savages. They think it weak and cowardly to yield to grief or anger; misfortune and pain they scorn, and death they endure not only without a murmur, but with cheerfulness. Suicide under any circumstances they brand as the strongest evidence of lack of courage.

‘Of the cruelty of Indians to conquered enemies, this only can be said, that it is the vice of all barbarians, that they know not what they do, that it is only exercised on their avowed foes, and that it is almost always perpetrated in the heat of blood. Captives, once spared, fare no worse than their conquerors. The sense of honor among Indians is, in some respects, very strong; in others, not so. It will not prevent an individual from falsehood, treachery, promise-breaking, flattery, beggary and a multitude of other offences. It will deter him from labor, which he considers the exclusive business of women, it forbids him to shun death, it commands him to requite a disgraceful blow with a stab, it forbids him to boast of deeds he never achieved, it commands him to sacrifice himself for the good of his tribe. Its scope is not very extensive; but where it operates, it operates effectually.

‘In their domestic relations, they are essentially, but not ostensibly kind. They provide for their families, they love their wives and children; but thinking it womanish to manifest the affections, they are not fond husbands or fathers. Tatunkah Nazhee, the best hunter of the Dahcotahs, lost his wife and five children by the hands of the Chippeways. The only sign of grief he displayed was painting his face black. Yet he abandoned his usual occupations, and pursued the enemy till he had taken life for life. “This,” said he, “is the best way of mourning for the dead.”

‘Indian hospitality and charity have no limit. No stranger enters their tents to whom they do not give meat: no person goes to them in need whom they do not relieve to the extent of their ability, and often to their great inconvenience. They will not look upon an execution, they will not suffer a person who has wronged them to be whipped for it, and the idea of imprisoning a man for debt, or for a petty violation of the rights of property, fills them with horror.

‘Some years ago, the old chief of a Dahcotah band was robbed by a drunken soldier of eighteen ducks, which he had killed for the use of his family. The offender was detected, compelled to make restitution, and fastened to the whipping-post. When the old man comprehended the nature of the punishment about to be inflicted, he burst into tears, and threw down half his game before the commanding officer. “Iwill give you these,” said he, “if you will spare this man. Of what consequence are a few ducks?” The man had committed violence on the chiefs person. Which of the two best deserved to be called a savage?

‘In short, to end our remarks on the Dahcotah character, which is, with some trivial alterations, the character of most Indian tribes, we may say that their moral code is grievously defective, but that, such as it is, they adhere rigidly to it. Considering their ignorance, their extreme necessities and their wrongs, it is wonderful that their moral degradation is not deeper than it is. Their code is adapted to their mode of life, and it is only by applying it to others, who have more to lose and less to gain than themselves, that they become disagreeable and dangerous neighbors to the whites. An incessant irritation is the consequence, hatred succeeds, mutual wrong follows, and war consummates the drama.

‘Those of the tribes of Dahcotah origin who live on the Mississippi, and other wooded countries, live on the deer and other game of the forest. By entrapping the fur-clad animals, they get the means of buying guns, cloth and other articles, which have become indispensably necessary to them. In the summer, they live in permanent villages, and cultivate a little corn. The women perform this, as well as all other labors, and do not consider themselves aggrieved thereby. It is said that, as the men encounter the fatigues and perils of the chase, the dangers of war and the vicissitudes of the seasons, they have their full share of domestic duties. The women being unfit for these occupations, must fill the station which God has allotted to them, and neither party thinks the distribution of offices unjust or unreasonable. The women are sold, like the daughters of the patriarchs, by their parents to their husbands, and they are chastised or commended according to the degree of their industry or good conduct. Judging from their general cheerfulness, they see no hardship in their lot. Jealousy seems to be their chief annoyance, and often causes them to hang themselves.

‘In winter, the hunters leave their villages, and encamp in leathern tents on their hunting-grounds, removing from place to place as the game is more or less abundant. They are plentifully supplied by the traders with ammunition on credit, and pay their debts as they best can in the spring. This system is highly injurious to the Indians, and vexatious to the traders. As not more than half of the hunters pay their debts, the trader is obliged to charge a double price for his goods, in his own defence, and thus the honest and industrious Indians pay for the idle and vicious. Still this is the fashion of their fathers, and no persuasion will induce them to depart from it.

‘It only remains to be said of this portion of the race, that they live from hand to mouth, hunting and fishing when they feel so inclined, and fasting when the chances of the chase are against them. Few of them perish by starvation. The only circumstance that varies the monotony of their lives is war, and that they practise on so limited a scale that it has no perceptible effect on their population or happiness.

‘The roving tribes, who live in the great plains of the west, differ little in language or character from their more stationary brethren. They encamp near the vast herds of buffaloes, kill as many as they want, eat the flesh, dress in the skins, and sell as many robes to the traders as will procure them cloth and guns. They are wilder and more primitive than their neighbors, and more addicted to plunder and massacre those who are not of their blood. They are generally well mounted and armed with guns, bows and arrows, spears and shields. They kill the buffalo at full speed. If the drove removes, they pluck up their tents and follow. If any man frightens the cattle, certain police officers, called soldiers, punish him by stripes and the destruction of his horses and property. Their persons are held sacred, and no one thinks of resisting them. Some of these wanderers are like the children of Ishmael in that every man’s hand is against them, and their hand is against every man. The Assinneboins are an example. Their time is spent in indolence, war and the chase.

‘The wars of Indians among themselves are seldom very destructive. The war chief dreams or pretends to dream that the enemy will be delivered into his hands, and sets out for the field of strife with, perhaps, twenty followers. The greatest caution is observed, and if the party find reason to think that the enemy is apprised of their intention, they turn back. If, however, their plans succeed, a small number of the enemy are surprised and butchered. Few are ever spared. Within a few months, this paltry onslaught is repaid in kind, and the account is balanced. These wars have been from time immemorial, and will probably continue till time shall be no more. Such is the modern state of Indian warfare; but tradition tells of more serious hostilities. Hundreds of Dahcotahs and Mandans perished less than a century ago in a battle between the two tribes. The Assinneboins were once nearly exterminated by the former tribe. Those times are gone, and a mightier influence is sweeping the red men from the face of the earth.

‘The Algonquin or Chippeway race is even more widely extended than the Dahcotahs. Judging from the remains of the languages which have descended to our times, the entire aboriginal population of New England sprung from this stock. Their manners and habits corroborate this supposition. The Delawares are supposed to have had the same origin. The language of the powerful and chivalrous Iroquois is said to be allied to the Chippeway. The Saque and Fox tribes are evidently branches of the same tree. The Ottawas and Pottawattamies claim the same descent. It is thought that the Menomenies share the same blood. The Kinisteneaux speak a dialect of the same tongue, and many other tribes may be traced to the same origin. All these tribes are and have ever been dwellers in the woods, and save that they now dress in articles made by the whites and that they love rum, they are now very nearly what they were two hundred years ago. They have proved themselves possessed of some mechanical ingenuity by inventing the birch canoe, a vehicle which has been the admiration of all travellers.

‘The Chippeway race differ little from other tribes living in the woods, whose manners and habits are too well known to need comment here. They are a nation of hunters and warriors, skilful in the chase, bold in battle, eloquent in council, and, in a word, possessing all the half-formed virtues, all the vices, all the ignorance and all the barbarism already ascribed to the Dahcotahs. Those of them who live in high northern latitudes, are more needy, and consequently more industrious, than those who dwell in more favored climes. Between this great nation and the Dahcotahs, a war has been waged so long that tradition itself conveys no knowledge of its cause or the date of its commencement. The deadly feud has been transmitted from father to son with such inveteracy, that all efforts to staunch it have proved abortive. Agreat deal of inherited hatred, and the strong thirst for martial renown, which is an inherent part of Indian character, have co-operated to perpetuate this state of things.

‘The language of these two great races are like no forms of speech known in the old world. They are wonderfully expressive, both defective and redundant, and said to be difficult of acquisition. The verbs of the Dahcotah language appear to have no roots, and to be entirely irregular in their modifications. The nominative case neither precedes nor follows the verb, as in the languages of the old world, but is incorporated with it, sometimes at the end of the word, sometimes in the middle, sometimes abbreviated, and sometimes entire. We have known traders to fail to acquire it during a trial of thirty years. From the little acquaintance we were able to gain, we thought it a collection of phrases, with scarce the resemblance of rule or order, and conclude that, to be learned at all, it must be learned by rote.

‘We can give but brief notices of other tribes. The Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws are known to us by their wrongs, and by the advances they have made in civilization. The measures taken to remove them beyond the Mississippi, already partially successful, will probably ere long be fully so. It would be an ungrateful as well as a useless task to enter into a discussion of a subject so generally understood; nevertheless, it may not be impertinent to offer a few remarks on the probable future fate of these unfortunate tribes.

‘We have already expressed our views respecting what we think the only sure mode of civilizing Indians. That mode, or, in other words, the necessity of a change of manners, was in successful operation upon the four southern nations. By transferring them to an unlimited range of territory, that necessity has been removed, and if they do not relapse into their primitive barbarism, they are radically unlike any other Indians with whom we are acquainted, or farther advanced in civilization than we are prepared to believe. The influences which make and continue the hunter state of the Indians, operate on the whites also. For every Indian who has voluntarily relinquished the life of his fathers, ten whites may be found who have become hunters.

‘It is proposed, by placing these tribes west of the Mississippi, to protect them from the encroachments of the whites, an intention which is certainly not founded on precedent or analogy. If the most solemn treaties, if repeated retrocessions have not hitherto been adequate to protect the savage from the overpowering tide of white population, how can it be supposed that his new abode in Arkansas will be respected when he shall have made it valuable, if indeed, he ever should make it valuable? There, he is thrown in contact with other tribes, as warlike, and more barbarous than his own, and much misery and bloodshed has already been the consequence.

‘Moreover, it is proposed, by casting the lot of several distinct tribes together, to amalgamate them, and thereby preserve them from decay. If the experience of past times is to be trusted, this measure is much more likely to produce division than to prevent it. Who ever saw two Indian tribes amalgamate, unless when one, reduced to a mere handful, sought the protection of the other? Thus the remnant of the Saques sought protection of the Foxes, the Stockbridge Indians of the Six Nations. On the other hand, we have only to refer to the Dahcotah and Algonquin races, severally derived from two great roots, but now divided into an almost infinite number of petty hordes. If people, thus connected by the bonds of common origin and language, have so divided, what is to be expected from others, who have no basis of union, and who, in some instances, entertain hostile feelings toward each other? We hope the best; but to us the future prospect of the expatriated tribes appears overshadowed with clouds and darkness.

‘Beside the two great divisions already noticed, there are many other tribes, of whose origin and languages little is known, save that they are wholly distinct from each other. Such are the natives of the Columbia river, for an account of whom we must refer the reader to the travels of Lewis and Clarke, and of Roos Coxe. M’Kenzie and Franklin tell all that is known of the Dog-rib and Coppermine Indians, two feeble and miserable tribes which inhabit the frozen regions north of the Great Slave lake. The Flat-heads, who live on the upper waters of the Columbia, muster five hundred determined warriors, and derive their name from their custom of compressing the head, in infancy, into a hideously unseemly shape; a practice common to most of the tribes of Oregon, and formerly in use among the Caraibs. They war upon their eastern neighbors, the buffalo-following Blackfeet, a desperate and ferocious tribe, who are friendly to the English, and abhor the very name of an American. This animosity arose from the fact that one or two of them were killed, more than thirty years ago, by Lewis and Clarke. The Mandans and Minnetarees dwell in permanent villages on the Missouri, speak distinct languages from each other, and from all other tribes, and claim consanguinity with none. The Crows are a separate and powerful race of vagrant horsemen, and so are the Shiannes, who were formerly expelled by the Dahcotahs from the lands which the latter now occupy. The Pawnees and Arikarees compose three tribes who speak one language; the Pawnee Wolves are in no wise connected with them. The Shoshonees live and starve among the Rocky mountains. Among other distinct races may be numbered the Wyandots, or Hurons, the Comanches, the Appaches, and many others. All of these tribes, excepting the Wyandots, are more or less in the vagabond state, and ride over the boundless prairies, chasing the buffalo, and warring upon all whom they dare attack. All are bold warriors, skilful hunters, and inveterate horse-stealers, in all of which characters they glory. The manners of all are nearly alike; all practise the same indiscriminate hospitality; all have the same code of morals, religion, and policy; almost all detest the people of the United States, for what reasons it is unnecessary here to inquire. By classing all these hordes together, we do not mean to imply that there is no difference whatever in their habits, ideas, and characters; but that there is a very strong general resemblance between them all.

‘The Caraibs and the original inhabitants of the West Indies have passed away, thanks to the cruelties of their Spanish invaders. Nothing can be said of them which is, probably, not already known to the mass of our readers. For an account of the Mexicans, and the Indians of South America, we must refer to the pages of Humboldt, Robertson, and other writers. Nor can it be expected that we should enter into such details as may have come to our knowledge, respecting the tribes already mentioned. Many volumes larger than this would be requisite for such purpose. It is our duty, however, to caution our readers against trusting the statements of such travellers as Carver, who have galloped over the countries they describe with the speed of race-horses, without understanding a syllable of the languages of the Indians with whom they sojourned, and relying for information on the hearsay testimony of ignorant trappers and boatmen. There are but too many of this stamp. If we may say what authorities we consider unquestionable, we will mention M’Kenzie, Henry, Franklin, Tanner, and the English Long. These all sojourned long among the people they pretend to describe, and enjoyed the best opportunities for personal observation.

‘One topic connected with the aborigines only remains, which we must discuss briefly. It relates to their ultimate destiny, and the prospect of christianizing and civilizing them. Many obstacles to this desideratum exist, and we are sorry to add that they appear to us insuperable. To convert the adults must be excessively difficult, if not impossible. Firstly, their languages are so difficult of acquisition, and so barren of words expressing abstract ideas, that the greater part of a life is spent in learning them, and when acquired, they are scarcely adequate to convey the doctrines of Christianity. Secondly, the Indians are so constantly roaming about, and so scattered, that, to instruct them, a missionary would be needed for every family, who should accompany them in their peregrinations, avail himself of such opportunities as their caprice might allow, and above all, maintain himself; for, though no Indian would tell him so, the burthen of his support would, at times, be severely felt. He must then overcome that apathy and laziness which is the characteristic of savage life, break up the whole of his pupil’s long-revered rules of thought and action, and substitute others in their stead. Anew ambition must be awakened, and the whole frame of Indian society must be changed entirely, for the ethics of our Savior will not apply to the present one. For example, it will be difficult to persuade the savage to meekness and long-suffering, while all his arts and exertions will scarce protect his wives and children from the knives of his neighbors, while all his companions tell him that revenge on the enemies of his tribe is a sacred duty, and that martial renown ought to be to him as the breath of his nostrils.

‘The missionary should not too much rely on the apparent impression he may have produced on his auditors. Indians seldom contradict, and, by an intuitive politeness, always receive what is addressed to them by one whom they respect, with approbation and assent. Therefore, when an Indian auditory may have listened to a discourse with marked attention and expressed approbation, the speaker is not to suppose that they believe a word of it. They only mean that he is entitled to respect. An Indian once agreed that man’s first disobedience was improper, and, being farther questioned, gave his reasons. “It was very foolish,” he said, “to eat apples: it was much better to make cider of them all.”

‘Some few adults have, indeed, become Christians; but where such conversions have taken place, the converts have either made some previous progress in civilization, or the change has been nominal. We never yet saw a savage hunter who had a rational idea of Christianity. The example of the Cherokees alone shows that the ground must be prepared to receive the seed. The missionaries have undoubtedly done them great good; but they made little or no progress before the tribe had turned to agriculture, framed laws and a regular government, and acknowledged a distinction of property. They are now fitted to receive the Word.

‘Indians taken from their tribe young, educated, and sent back, do not appear better qualified to teach than white missionaries. They are, in every thing but complexion, as much aliens among their people as the whites, and command no more sympathy, and rather less respect.

‘We believe there is no example on record of a tribe who have changed from hunters to farmers on any other consideration than compulsion of some kind or other. We constantly see them recede rather than labor. But when prevented from receding, they learn the value of time and labor, and a distinction of property necessarily takes place. Laws are then necessary to guard this distinction. Prodigality is no longer a principal virtue; war is no longer the chief pursuit of life; the mind acquires new ideas and new habits of exercise, and thus the way to entire civilization and Christianity is prepared. Could we see the coast of the Pacific settled by white men, who should advance into the interior, driving the western Indians before them as we have done the eastern, till the entire race should be hemmed within limits too narrow for their existence as hunters, we should entertain a hope of seeing a remnant of them saved and civilized. The same result must be brought about by driving them to the Pacific; but the operation will be so tardy, that most of the expatriated tribes will probably be destroyed by their intercourse with the whites, or by the tribes on whom they will be forced to intrude. How small a remnant remains of the millions who once dwelt in peace between the Atlantic and the Mississippi!

‘The children of Indians may be christianized, but only when they can be separated from their parents. The missionaries of Michilimacinac seem aware of this fact; for they have chiefly confined their instructions to the half-breed children of white men, who are at the disposal of their fathers. It was a wise policy, and their ministry has produced the most blessed results.

‘Consider this subject in what light we may, so many difficulties present themselves, that it is almost impossible to hope that any considerable portion of the aboriginal race will be in existence three centuries hence. The fate of individual tribes is beyond the reach of conjecture, and we have only to pray that the God alike of white and red men will preserve them from utter extermination.’