METALLIC IM^LEME^•TS OF XEW VuKK INDIANS GO 



secure proof of what had been actually douo. It silenced the 

 mere bra^njart,who had no scalps to show. Hideous as they seem 

 to us, these were to the Indian what «tars," crosses, and honorable 

 medals are to the European soldier. Grantin<^ its savage 

 features it was the phiinest record in a savage state. 



The white man changed this. The honorable distinction be- 

 came a source of gain. A price was placed on scalps, and men 

 and women were killed for money. Fame and distinction became 

 of less value than mercenary returns, for the white man paid for 

 scalps and beaver skins as kindred commodities. Of this the red 

 man had not before thought. 



The French paid scarcely .$6 for men's scalps, but King Louis 

 thought they must economize in this. In 1G94 he wrote to Fron- 

 tenac and Champigny, then in Canada, that '^ His Majesty desires 

 that they conform themselves to the order he gave them last 

 year, to cease paying the Christian Indians 10 silver ^cus for every 

 Indian killed, 20 ^cus for each prisoner, and half these sums for 

 women; this will be a further diminution of the estimate. This 

 expense can not be afforded." — OX'aUagliaiu 9:573 



The Xew York colonists acted independently and more liberally 

 or else the general price had advanced in half a century. Under 

 date of May 7, 1747, Col. Johnson wrote to Gov. Clinton: ''We 

 shall soon have abundance of prisoners and scalps, wherefore 

 w'ill require a great deal of money, which they expect will be 

 ready here at their return. I have paid the first who came home 

 £60 for the six scalps brought from Crown Point which I could 

 not avoid, and when the rest come in I must do the same, for thev 

 look to none else for it & must have it, as they say, punctually 

 paid according to promise." — O'Callaghan, 6:301 



Many quotations might be made illustrating this subject. 

 Whether bounties were paid by either side during the revolu- 

 tionary w^ar does not clearly appear, though it is probable. The 

 noted account of scalps taken by the Senecas, published in 17S2, 

 was long believed but is now known to have been written by Dr 

 Franklin for political purposes. It has yet a certain value as 

 being a good description of how scalps were stretched, dried and 

 painted. 



