100 EXPEDITION TO THE 



and one of those which they exercise most frequently. To 

 ideots they likewise generally extend a kind and humane 

 treatment. By their relations, ideots are always treated 

 with tenderness ; but the idle and foolish, who are not con- 

 nected with them, though they never abuse, will some- 

 times ridicule them ; in this respect imitating the treat- 

 ment to which they are so inhumanly, yet so frequently ex- 

 posed, from the unthinking, even among civilized nations. 

 There are some persons among them who think that ideots 

 are possessed of more intellect than they make show of, and 

 who believe them to be endowed with much intelligence, 

 but by none are they held in the light of sorcerers. The 

 same opinion is likewise entertained of insane persons, who 

 are supposed by some to hold converse with the Deity ; 

 this opinion is not, however, universally adopted. Care is 

 taken in the physical education of the Potawatomi from 

 his earliest age, that his body should be straight and well- 

 formed, no attempt is however made to change the shape of 

 the head ; the observations which have been made on this 

 subject by various travellers, apply only to certain nations, 

 one of which is designated by the term of Flat-heads, and 

 it is highly incorrect to consider them as general. The 

 shape of the head is one of the features which assists most 

 in the discrimination of the various tribes. It is at least 

 as easy for a person well acquainted with the Indians, to 

 distinguish between the different nations, as it is among 

 white men to observe differences between the various races 

 that inhabit Europe ; to an Indian this is even easier, as 

 his long habits of scrutiny have made him quick at no- 

 ticing differences which would escape the attention of less 

 practised observers. " We know every tribe at first sight," 

 said Little Turtle, "the shape, colour, legs, knees, and 

 feet, are all to us certain marks of distinction." 



