SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 161 



But there are instances in which the excuse of famine can- 

 not be pleaded. Frequently after a battle, a warrior will 

 fall upon the body of an enemy, cut off his head, which is 

 accounted the choicest piece, and invite his friends to fol- 

 low his example, which they are always prone to do ; thus, 

 prompted by no necessity or scarcity, they feast upon hu- 

 man flesh. In such cases they are actuated by no super- 

 stition ; it is not the hope of becoming braver or stouter, 

 but it is merely the desire to satiate their rage upon their 

 enemy which leads them to perpetrate this unnatural deed. 

 But instances are even known, when neither the heat of 

 a battle, nor the desire of venting their revenge on the 

 spot, can be adduced in extenuation ; when this meat has 

 been jerked, laid aside, and kept for years, and afterwards 

 taken out and cooked up with other meat in order to make 

 a festival to which guests were invited, and in which none 

 would have withheld from sharing, without being liable to 

 the charge of faintheartedness. It is from these circum- 

 stances that we are led to ascribe to the Chippewas the re- 

 volting practice of cannibalism, not founded upon scarcity 

 of provisions alone ; not stimulated by superstitious no- 

 tions ; not perpetrated merely in the heat of passion ; but 

 springing from the worst of motives, a concentrated and 

 lasting revenge, motives which, far from offering any pal- 

 liation, only add to the abhorrence which we must feel for 

 the perpetrators of this abominable practice. 



Among the Chippewas the institution of the Totem 

 exists as among the Sauks, and serves as an important dis- 

 tinguishing feature between these two nations and the 

 Dacotas. 



The principal disease to which the Chippewas are liable 

 is a consumption of the lungs, induced by the great fa- 

 tigues and exposures which they undergo; it generally 



