;394 EXPEDITION TO THE 



peaceable, or if they die by the hand of their enemy. If 

 they perish in a broil with their own countrymen, their 

 souls are doomed to the residence of the Evil Spirit. Sui- 

 cide is with them attended with the same penalty as with 

 women, but it is of very rare occurrence. Women are, in 

 their opinion, bound at all times, whether single or mar- 

 ried, to be chaste. If an unmarried female prove other- 

 wise, she usually endeavours to conceal her shame by pro- 

 curing abortion ; this is held to be highly criminal ; but it 

 is the cause and not the act of abortion which is censured ; 

 for married females frequently obtain miscarriages with 

 the knowledge and consent of their husbands, and to this 

 no objection is made. Widows, that prove with child, 

 seldom resort to the same means, but they endeavour to 

 conceal the birth of their offspring; and this is consi- 

 dered as equally criminal. Suicide is very common 

 among the Dacota women ; they are impelled to it by 

 extreme sorrow and affliction ; but it is held dishonourable. 

 As most women inflict it upon themselves by hanging,' 

 they are said to go to the regions of the wicked, dragging 

 after them the tree to which they were suspended. This 

 fact has already been recorded by Bradbury, who adds, 

 that they are doomed for ever to drag this tree, and that for 

 this reason they always suspend themselves to as small a 

 tree as can possibly sustain their weight. 



The Dacotas repel the charge of cannibalism with great 

 horror ; they assert that they have never been guilty of it, 

 but charge their neighbours with the crime. Renville 

 states, as a circumstance for which he is willing to vouch, 

 that he was present at the siege of Fort Meigs, in the year 

 1813. The fort was besieged by general Proctor, at the 

 head of the British army, attended by a corps of about 

 three thousand Indians, consisting of Dacotas, Potawato- 



