The Spartans of the West 51 



unless he is able to curb his indulgence in the pleasures of the 

 senses. Upon this truth the Indian built a rigid system of 

 physical training, a social and moral code that was the law of his 

 life. 



"There was aroused in 'him as a child a high ideal of manly 

 strength and beauty, the attainment of which must depend upon 

 strict temperance in eating and in the sexual relation, together 

 with severe and persistent exercise. He desired to be a worthy 

 Hnk in the generations, and that he might not destroy by his 

 weakness that vigor and purity of blood which had been achieved 

 at the cost of so much self-denial by a long line of ancestors. 



" He was required to fast from time to time for short periods 

 and to work off his superfluous energy by means of hard running, 

 swimming and the vapor bath. The bodily fatigue thus induced, 

 especially when coupled with a reduced diet, is a reliable cure 

 for undue sexual desires." (Eastman's "Soul of the Indian," 

 pp. 90-92.) 



In their wonderful physique, the result of their life-long, 

 age-long training, in their courage, their fortitude, their 

 skill with weapons, their devoted patriotism, they realize 

 more than any other modern race has done the ideal of 

 the Spartan Greek, with this advantage; that, in his moral 

 code, the Indian was far superior. 



IN GENERAL 



"I admit, " says Father Lallemant, of the Hurons, "that their 

 habits and customs are barbarous in a thousand ways, but, after 

 all, in matters which they consider as wrong, and which their 

 public condemns, we observe among them less criminality than 

 in France, although here the only punishment of a crime is the 

 shame of having committed it." ("Century of Dishonor, " p. 

 378.) 



Even stronger is the summary of the Jesuit Father^ 

 J. F. Lafitau: 



"They are high-minded and proud; possess a courage equal to 

 every trial, an intrepid valor, the most heroic constancy under 



