420 EXPEDITION TO TIi£ 



flare violate, never to retreat from it. In the commence- 

 ment of the association, the two founders having selected 

 a third, and this one nominated a fourth member, these 

 meet in the lodge appropriated to their purpose, and as soon 

 as they have entered it, and smoked the pipe of war, they 

 cannot retract. These four assume the appropriate dress, 

 and issue out of the lodge singing and dancing; they se- 

 lect such of the warriors, as they think will be good mem- 

 bers of the band, and convey them, whether willing or not, 

 to their lodge. If the warrior enter it, even but for a mo- 

 ment, he is bound to the association and cannot withdraw ; 

 but if he succeed in effecting his escape before he enters 

 the lodge, he is free. Vacancies in their body are never fill- 

 ed ; the association continues until it is annihilated by the 

 death of all its members, when a new one may be formed. 

 They have occasional meetings for feasts and sacrifices. 

 Their fasts are both frequent and rigid. It is difficult to 

 determine, with precision, what the object of the institu- 

 tion is, but it seems to be to convince the enemy, that there 

 are, in their band, a number of men so heedless of danger, 

 that they will rush into it, under a solemn pledge never to 

 retreat, and also without the usual motive of selling their 

 lives at a high price, by the number of the enemy whom 

 they will have previously destroyed. It must be admitted 

 that the passive courage, which this association requires of 

 its members, presents perhaps the highest degree, which 

 man has ever manifested ; for they are not even animated 

 by a religious or a superstitious feeling; they do not be- 

 lieve that this self-devotion will ensure success to their 

 party. They, it is true, entertain the opinion that it is 

 more difficult to kill them than other warriors ; yet this 

 does not detract in the least from their merit, as they know 

 they must, sooner or later, fall victims to the dangers to 



