430 SCALPING IN AMERICA. 



New Mexico, and northern Mexico by the Spanish soldiers. The 

 writer has not found that the habit existed anj^where else in North 

 America, except as a punishment for marital infelicity. In one in- 

 stance it was observed, under special circumstances, among the 

 Aztecs. On the other hand, the ear trophy was very common under 

 Portuguese and Brazilian dominion in South America, and ears 

 were delivered to the authorities by Indians, mixed breeds, and 

 whites. We learn that as late as the first half of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury a Brazilian commander brought in 300 ears. 



The custom of taking the eyes of the fallen as trophies was also 

 very nearly limited to a part of California, being found in addition 

 only among the Tupi. The eyes were taken out, prepared in a 

 special manner, and preserved in memory of the victory. 



Information concerning war customs among the tribes in the 

 Northwest is also not definite. As Lewis and Clark reached the ter- 

 ritory of the Shahaptin and Chinook, they were surprised to find for 

 the first time since leaving the Mississippi an absence of scalping 

 and the presence of finger trophies. It seems, however, that the 

 finger trophy custom was not widespread or folloAved to more than a 

 moderate degree. It was apparently a remnant of a practice that 

 was more widely distributed in the West before the advent of scalp- 

 ing. After the visit of Lewis and Clark, tribes like the Nez Perce, 

 Flathead, Kutenay, and Cayuse carried on scalping. 



The cutting olf of fingers was found also among other American 

 tribes, some of which lived far apart. It was reported from the 

 Iroquois, Huron, Algonquin, and Tupi, but in most of these cases 

 the object was not to secure a trophy, but rather to mutilate the 

 dead body, partly as a result of hate and partly as a precautionary 

 measure to prevent harm by the spirit of the killed. The severed 

 fingers were especially those used in arrow release. The Araukanian 

 employed fingers cut off from their enemies in their symbolical 

 declaration of war. 



Regarding the coast tribes of AAashington and northward to the 

 boundaries of the Eskimo, we have many seemingly contradictory 

 statements. Nevertheless by a close study of these it is possible to 

 arrive at some facts. 



The warlike Chimakuan tribes were head-hunters, but later on 

 practiced scalping. The Salish, Aht, or Wakasli tribes, the Tlaida, 

 Tsimshian, and Koloshan were all originally head-hunters, but in 

 later times adopted here and there scalping after an intermediary 

 form of procedure. They never practiced scalping to any great 

 extent or in its characteristic form. 



In Mexico the farther south we go the more rare the habit of scalp- 

 becomes ; its place is occupied by the head trophy. 



So much for the distribution of the custom in North America. 



