Part 15

The long lock of hair on the top of the head, with the skin on which it grows, constitutes the true scalp; and in scalping a person that has a full head of hair, an experienced warrior never thinks of taking off more of the skin than a bit of about the size of a crown piece, from the part of the head where this lock is usually left. They ornament this solitary lock of hair with beads, silver trinkets, &c. and on grand occasions with feathers. The women do not pluck any of the hair from off their heads, and pride themselves upon having it as long as possible. They commonly wear it neatly platted up behind, and divided in front on the middle of the forehead. When they wish to appear finer than usual, they paint the small part of the skin, which appears on the separation of the hair, with a streak of vermilion; when neatly done, it looks extremely well, and forms a pleasing contrast to the jetty black of their hair.

[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]

The Indians, who have any dealings with the English or American traders, and all of them have that live in the neighbourhood, and to the east of the Mississippi, and in the neighbourhood of the great lakes to the north-west, have now totally laid aside the use of furs and skins in their dress, except for their shoes or moccasins, and sometimes for their leggings, as they find they can exchange them to advantage for blankets and woollen cloths, &c. which they consider likewise as much more agreeable and commodious materials for wearing apparel. The moccasin is made of the skin of the deer, elk, or buffalo, which is commonly dressed without the hair, and rendered of a deep brown colour by being exposed to the smoke of a wood fire. It is formed of a single piece of leather, with a seam from the toe to the instep, and another behind, similar to that in a common shoe; by means of a thong, it is fastened round the instep, just under the ankle-bone, and is thus made to fit very close to the foot. Round that part where the foot is put in, a flap of the depth of an inch or two is left, which hangs loosely down over the string by which the moccasin is fastened; and this flap, as also the seam, are tastefully ornamented with porcupine quills and beads: the flap is edged with tin or copper tags filled with scarlet hair, if the moccasin be intended for a man, and with ribands if for a woman. An ornamented moccasin of this sort is only worn in dress, as the ornaments are expensive, and the leather soon wears out; one of plain leather answers for ordinary use. Many of the white people on the Indian frontiers wear this kind of shoe; but a person not accustomed to walk in it, or to walk barefoot, cannot wear it abroad, on a rough road, without great inconvenience, as every unevenness of surface is felt through the leather, which is soft and pliable: in a house it is the most agreeable sort of shoe that can be imagined: the Indians wear it universally. Above the moccasin all the Indians wear what are called leggings, which reach from the instep to the middle of the thigh. They are commonly made of blue or scarlet cloth, and are formed so as to fit close to the limbs, like the modern pantaloons; but the edges of the cloth annexed to the seam, instead of being turned in, are left on the outside, and are ornamented with beads, ribands, &c. when the leggings are intended for dress. Many of the young warriors are so desirous that their leggings should fit them neatly, that they make the squaws, who are the tailors, and really very good ones, sow them tight on their limbs, so that they cannot be taken off, and they continue to wear them constantly till they are reduced to rags. The leggings are kept up by means of two strings, one on the outside of each thigh, which are fastened to a third, that is tied round the waist.

They also wear round the waist another string, from which are suspended two little aprons, somewhat more than a foot square, one hanging down before and the other behind, and under these a piece of cloth, drawn close up to the body between the legs, forming a sort of truss. The aprons and this piece of cloth, which are all fastened together, are called the breech cloth. The utmost ingenuity of the squaws is exerted in adorning the little aprons with beads, ribands, &c.

The moccasins, leggings, and breech cloth constitute the whole of the dress which they wear when they enter upon a campaign, except indeed it be a girdle, from which hangs their tobacco pouch and scalping knife, &c.; nor do they wear any thing more when the weather is very warm; but when it is cool, or when they dress themselves to visit their friends, they put on a short shirt, loose at the neck and wrists, generally made of coarse figured cotton or callico of some gaudy pattern, not unlike what would be used for window or bed curtains at a common inn in England. Over the shirt they wear either a blanket, large piece of broad cloth, or else a loose coat made somewhat similarly to a common riding frock; a blanket is more commonly worn than any thing else. They tie one end of it round their waist with a girdle, and then drawing it over their shoulders, either fasten it across their breasts with a skewer, or hold the corners of it together in the left hand. One would imagine that this last mode of wearing it could not but be highly inconvenient to them, as it must deprive them in a great measure of the use of one hand; yet it is the mode in which it is commonly worn, even when they are shooting in the woods; they generally, however, keep the right arm disengaged when they carry a gun, and draw the blanket over the left shoulder.

[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]

The dress of the women differs but very little from that of the men. They wear moccasins, leggings, and loose short shirts, and like them they throw over their shoulders, occasionally, a blanket or piece of broad cloth, but most generally the latter; they do not tie it round their waist, however, but suffer it to hang down so as to hide their legs; instead also of the breech cloth, they wear a piece of cloth folded closely round their middle, which reaches from the waist to the knees. Dark blue or green cloths in general are preferred to those of any other colour; a few of the men are fond of wearing scarlet.

The women in warm weather appear in the villages without any other covering above their waists than these shirts, or shifts if you please so to call them, though they differ in no respect from the shirts of the men; they usually, however, fasten them with a broach round the neck. In full dress they also appear in these shirts, but then they are covered entirely over with silver broaches, about the size of a sixpenny piece. In full dress they likewise fasten pieces of ribands of various colours to their hair behind, which are suffered to hang down to their very heels. I have seen a young squaw, that has been a favourite with the men, come forth at a dance with upwards of five guineas worth of ribands streaming from her hair.

[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]

On their wrists the women wear silver bracelets when they can procure them; they also wear silver ear-rings; the latter are in general of a very small size; but it is not merely one pair which they wear, but several. To admit them, they bore a number of holes in their ears, sometimes entirely round the edges. The men wear ear-rings likewise, but of a sort totally different from those worn by the women; they mostly consist of round flat thin pieces of silver, about the size of a dollar, perforated with holes in different patterns; others, however, equally large, are made in a triangular form. Some of the tribes are very select in the choice of the pattern, and will not wear any but the one sort of pendants. Instead of boring their ears, the men slit them along the outward edge from top to bottom, and as soon as the gash is healed hang heavy weights to them in order to stretch the rim thus separated as low down as possible; Some of them are so successful in this operation, that they contrive to draw the rims of the ear in form of a bow, down to their very shoulders, and their large ear-rings hang dangling on their breasts. To prevent the rim thus extended from breaking, they bind it with brass wire; however, I observed that there was not one in six that had his ears perfect; the least touch, indeed, is sufficient to break the skin, and it would be most wonderful if they were able to preserve it entire, engaged so often as they are in drunken quarrels, and so often liable to be entangled in thickets whilst pursuing their game.

Some of the men wear pendants in their noses, but these are not so common as ear-rings. The chiefs and principal warriors wear breast plates, consisting of large pieces of silver, sea shells, or the like. Silver gorgets, such as are usually worn by officers, please them extremely, and to favourite chiefs they are given out, amongst other presents, on the part of government. Another sort of ornament is likewise worn by the men, consisting of a large silver clasp or bracelet, to which is attached a bunch of hair dyed of a scarlet colour, usually taken from the knee of the buffalo. This is worn on the narrow part of the arm above the elbow, and it is deemed very ornamental, and also a badge of honour, for no person wears it that has not distinguished himself in the field. Silver ornaments are universally preferred to those of any other metal.

The Indians not only paint themselves when they go to war, but likewise when they wish to appear full dressed. Red and black are their favourite colours, and they daub themselves in the most fantastic manner. I have seen some with their faces entirely covered with black, except a round spot in the center, which included the upper lip and end of the nose, which was painted red; others again I have seen with their heads entirely black, except a large red round spot on each ear; others with one eye black and the other red, &c.; but the most common style of painting I observed, was to black their faces entirely over with charcoal, and then wetting their nails, to draw parallel undulating lines on their cheeks. They generally carry a little looking glass about them to enable them to dispose of their colours judiciously. When they go to war they rub in the paint with grease, and are much more particular about their appearance, which they study to render as horrible as possible; they then cover their whole body with red, white, and black paint, and seem more like devils than human beings. Different tribes have different methods of painting themselves.

[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]

Though the Indians spend so much of their time in adorning their persons, yet they take no pains to ornament their habitations, which for the most part are wretched indeed. Some of them are formed of logs, in a style somewhat similar to the common houses in the United States; but the greater part of them are of a moveable nature, and formed of bark. The bark of the birch tree is deemed preferable to every other sort, and where it is to be had is always made use of; but in this part of the country not being often met with, the bark of the elm tree is used in its stead. The Indians are very expert in stripping it from a tree; and frequently take the entire bark from off the trunk in one piece. The skeletons of their huts consist of slender poles, and on them the bark is fastened with strips of the tough rind of some young tree: this, if sound, proves a very effectual defence against the weather. The huts are built in various forms: some of them have walls on every side, doors, and also a chimney in the middle of the roof; others are open on one side, and are nothing better than sheds. When built in this last style, four of them are commonly placed together, so as to form a quadrangle, with the open parts towards the inside, and a fire common to them all is kindled in the middle. In fine weather these huts are agreeable dwellings; but in the depth of winter they must be dreadfully uncomfortable. Others of their huts are built in a conical shape. The Nandowessies, Mr. Carver tells us, live entirely in tents formed of skins. A great many of the families that were encamped on the island of Bois Blanc, I observed, lived in the canvas tents which they had taken from St. Clair’s army. Many of the Indian nations have no permanent place of residence, but move about from one spot to another, and in the hunting season they all have moveable encampments, which last are in general very rude, and insufficient to give them even tolerable shelter from a fall of rain or snow. The hunting season commences on the fall of the leaf, and continues till the snow dissolves.

[Sidenote: SOAP STONE.]

In the depth of winter, when the snow is frozen on the ground, they form their hunting sheds of the snow itself; a few twigs platted together being simply placed overhead to prevent the snow which forms the roof from falling down. These snowy habitations are much more comfortable, and warmer in winter time than any others that can be erected, as they effectually screen you from the keen piercing blasts of the wind, and a bed of snow is far from being uncomfortable. To accustom the troops to encamp in this style, in case of a winter campaign, a party of them, headed by some of the young officers, used regularly to be sent from Quebec by the late governor, into the woods, there to shift for themselves during the month of February. Care was always taken, however, to send with them two or three experienced persons, to shew them how to build the huts, otherwise death might have been the consequence to many. In these encampments they always sleep with their feet to the fire; and indeed in the Indian encampments in general, during cold weather, they sleep on the ground with their feet to the fire; during mild weather, many of them sleep on benches of bark in their huts, which are raised from two to four feet from the ground.

The utensils in an Indian hut are very few; one or two brass or iron kettles procured from the traders, or, if they live removed from them, pots formed of stone, together with a few wooden spoons and dishes made by themselves constitute in general the whole of them. A stone of a very soft texture, called the _soap stone_, is very commonly found in the back parts of North America, particularly suited for Indian workmanship. It receives its name from appearing to the touch as soft and smooth as a bit of soap; and indeed it may be cut with a knife almost equally easily. In Virginia they use it powdered for the boxes of their wheels instead of grease. Soft, however, as is this stone, it will resist fire equally with iron. The soap stone is of a dove colour; others nearly of the same quality, are found in the country, of a black and red colour, which are still commonly used by the Indians for the bowls of their pipes.

The bark canoes, which the Indians use in this part of the country, are by no means so neatly formed as those made in the country upon, and to the north of, the River St. Lawrence: they are commonly formed of one entire piece of elm bark, taken from the trunk of the tree, which is bound on ribs formed of slender rods of tough wood. There are no ribs, however, at the ends of these canoes, but merely at the middle part, where alone it is that passengers ever sit. It is only the center, indeed, which rests upon the water; the ends are generally raised some feet above the surface, the canoes being of a curved form. They bring them into this shape by cutting, nearly midway between the stem and stern, two deep slits, one on each side, in the back, and by lapping the disjointed edges one over the other. No pains are taken to make the ends of the canoes water tight, since they never touch the water.

[Sidenote: INDIAN DEXTERITY.]

On first inspection you would imagine, from its miserable appearance, that an elm bark canoe, thus constructed, were not calculated to carry even a single person safely across a smooth piece of water; it is nevertheless a remarkably safe sort of boat, and the Indians will resolutely embark in one of them during very rough weather. They are so light that they ride securely over every wave, and the only precaution necessary in navigating them is to sit steady. I have seen a dozen people go securely in one, which might be easily carried by a single able-bodied man. When an Indian takes his family to any distance in a canoe, the women, the girls, and boys, are furnished each with a paddle, and are kept busily at work; the father of the family gives himself no trouble but in steering the vessel.

The Indians that are connected with the traders have now, very generally, laid aside bows and arrows, and seldom take them into their hands, except it be to amuse themselves for a few hours, when they have expended their powder and shot: their boys, however, still use them universally, and some of them shoot with wonderful dexterity. I saw a young Shawnese chief, apparently not more than ten years old, fix three arrows running in the body of a small black squirrel, on the top of a very tall tree, and during an hour or two that I followed him through the woods, he scarcely missed his mark half a dozen times. It is astonishing to see with what accuracy, and at the same time with what readiness, they mark the spot where their arrows fall. They will shoot away a dozen arrows or more, seemingly quite careless about what becomes of them, and as inattentive to the spot where they fall as if they never expected to find them again, yet afterwards they will run and pick them every one up without hesitation. The southern Indians are much more expert at the use of the bow than those near the lakes, as they make much greater use of it.

With the gun, it seems to be generally allowed, that the Indians are by no means so good marksmen as the white people. I have often taken them out shooting with me, and I always found them very slow in taking aim; and though they generally hit an object that was still, yet they scarcely ever touched a bird on the wing, or a squirrel that was leaping about from tree to tree.

The expertness of the Indians in throwing the tomahawk is well known. At the distance of ten yards they will fix the sharp edge of it in an object nearly to a certainty. I have been told, however, that they are not fond of letting it out of their hands in action, and that they never attempt to throw it but when they are on the point of overtaking a flying foe, or are certain of recovering it. Some of them will fasten a string of the length of a few feet to the handle of the tomahawk, and will launch it forth, and draw it back again into their hand with great dexterity; they will also parry the thrust or cuts of a sword with the tomahawk very dexterously.

[Sidenote: TOMAHAWKS.]

The common tomahawk is nothing more than a light hatchet, but the most approved sort has on the back part of the hatchet, and connected with it in one piece, the bowl of a pipe, so that when the handle is perforated, the tomahawk answers every purpose of a pipe: the Indians, indeed, are fonder of smoking out of a tomahawk than out of any other sort of pipe. That formerly given to the Indians by the French traders, instead of a pipe, had a large spike on the back part of the hatchet; very few of these instruments are now to be found amongst them; I never saw but one. The tomahawk is commonly worn by the left side, stuck in a belt.

For the favourite chiefs, very elegant pipe-tomahawks, inlaid with silver, are manufactured by the armourers in the Indian department. Captain E—— has given me one of this kind, which he had made for himself; it is so much admired by the Indians, that when they have seen it with me, they have frequently asked me to lend it to them for an hour or so to smoke out of, just as children would ask for a pretty plaything; they have never failed to return it very punctually.

The armourers here alluded to are persons kept at the expence of government to repair the arms of the Indians when they happen to break, which is very commonly the case.

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]

An Indian child, soon after it is born, is swathed with cloths or skins, and being then laid on its back, is bound down on a piece of thick board, spread over with soft moss. The board is left somewhat longer and broader than the child, and bent pieces of wood, like pieces of hoops, are placed over its face to protect it, so that if the machine were suffered to fall the child would not probably be injured. The women, when they go abroad, carry their children thus tied down on their backs, the board being suspended by a broad band, which they wear round their foreheads. When they have any business to transact at home, they hang the board on a tree, if there be one at hand, and set them a swinging from side to side, like a pendulum, in order to exercise the children; sometimes also, I observed, they unloosened the children from the boards, and putting them each into a sort of little hammock, fastened them between two trees, and there suffered them to swing about. As soon as they are strong enough to crawl about on their hands and feet they are liberated from all confinement, and suffered, like young puppies, to run about, stark naked, into water, into mud, into snow, and, in short, to go wheresoever their choice leads them; hence they derive that vigour of constitution which enables them to support the greatest fatigue, and that indifference to the changes of the weather which they possess in common with the brute creation. The girls are covered with a loose garment as soon as they have attained four or five years of age, but the boys go naked till they are considerably older.

The Indians, as I have already remarked, are for the most part very slightly made, and from a survey of their persons one would imagine that they were much better qualified for any pursuits that required great agility than great bodily strength. This has been the general opinion of most of those who have written on this subject. I am induced, however, from what I have myself been witness to, and from what I have collected from others, to think that the Indians are much more remarkable for their muscular strength than for their agility. At different military posts on the frontiers, where this subject has been agitated, races, for the sake of experiment, have frequently been made between soldiers and Indians, and provided the distance was not great, the Indians have almost always been beaten; but in a long race, where strength of muscle was required, they have without exception been victorious; in leaping also the Indians have been infallibly beaten by such of the soldiers as possessed common activity: but the strength of the Indians is most conspicuous in the carrying of burthens on their backs; they esteem it nothing to walk thirty miles a day for several days together under a load of eight stone, and they will walk an entire day under a load without taking any refreshment. In carrying burdens they make use of a sort of frame, somewhat similar to what is commonly used by a glazier to carry glass; this is fastened by cords, or strips of tough bark or leather, round their shoulders, and when the load is fixed upon the broad ledge at the bottom of the frame, two bands are thrown round the whole, one of which is brought across the forehead, and the other across the breast, and thus the load is supported. The length of way an Indian will travel in the course of the day, when unencumbered with a load, is astonishing. A young Wyandot, who, when peace was about to be made between the Indians and General Wayne, was employed to carry a message from his nation to the American officer, travelled but little short of eighty miles on foot in one day; and I was informed by one of the general’s aids-de-camp, who saw him when he arrived at the camp, that he did not appear in the least degree fatigued.