SOURCE OF ST. PETER S RIVER. 99 



long been considered as peculiar to man in a state of civili- 

 zation. Children incapacitated from labour, or exertion, 

 by accident or deformity, are carefully attended to, and sel- 

 dom allowed to suffer, from a privation of any of the com- 

 forts which the rest of the tribe enjoy. It is considered 

 disgraceful in a man, to inflict any injury upon a helpless 

 or unprotected person. In a few instances, it is said, that 

 children born deformed have been destroyed by tlieir 

 mothers, but these instances are rare, and whenever dis- 

 covered, uniformly bring them into disrepute, and are nqt 

 unfrequently punished by some of the near relations. In- 

 dependent of these cases, which are but rare, a few instances 

 of infanticide, by single women, in order to conceal in- 

 trigue, have been heard of; but they are always ti-eated 

 with abhorrence. In like manner when going out on hunt- 

 ing excursions, elderly parents have been known to be 

 abandoned, or exposed to a certain death, but these were 

 likewise rare cases, which may be considered as always 

 carrying with them a severe punishment by the utter con- 

 tempt and detestation in which those who committed them 

 were held. When questioned upon this point, Metea de- 

 nied that it had ever happened ; " as they have taken pains 

 to raise us when we were young," said he, " it is but fair 

 that we should return this care to them in their old age." 

 Instances have however occurred even among the Pota- 

 watomis ; one of which took place on the Milwacke, when 

 a decrepid old woman, who had no horse to remove her 

 from that place, was burned by them. In painful and vio- 

 lent diseases, Indians are sometimes killed at their own re- 

 quest, and afterwards burned to prevent contagion or the 

 disease falling upon another. Their attentions to old per- 

 sons, and their respect towards them, may be considered 

 as one of the virtues in which they pride themselves most, 



