176 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



titute of ing-enuity and invention in the art of 

 tormenting. Not a groan, a sigh, a tear, or a 

 sorrowful look, is sufiered to escape him. To 

 insult his tormentors, to display undaunted and 

 unalterable fortitude in this dreadful situation is 

 the mobt noble of all the triumphs of the war- 

 rior. With an unaltered countenance, and with 

 the decisive tone of dignity and superior im- 

 portance, the hero proceeds with great calm- 

 ness to sing the song of his death — '-^ Intrepid 

 and brave, I feci no pain, and I fear no torture. 

 I have slain, I have conquered, 1 have burnt 

 mine enemies ; and my countfymen will avenge 

 my blood. Ye are a nation of dogs, of cow- 

 ards, and women. Ye know not how to con- 

 quer, to suffer, or to torture. Prolong and in- 

 crease my torments, that ye may learn from my 

 example how to suffer and behave like men !^' 

 With such unconquerable magnanimity and 

 fortitude^, the sufferer perseveres under every 

 method of torment and torture. W^earicd with 

 cruelty, and tired with tormenting a man whose 

 fortitude they cannot move, one of the chiefs in 

 a rage concludes the scene, by knocking the 

 prisoner on the head, or stabbing him to the 

 •^ heart. 



These scenes however w'ere not common. 

 They seem to have been kind of honours, re- 

 served for the warriors ; and Avere the trials of 

 their courage and fortitude. And nothing was 

 esteemed more base and ignominious, than to 

 shrink from them, or to shew any sense of fear 

 or pain under them. 



When the prisoners were adopted into the 

 tribe of the conquerors, nothing could exceed 



