236 TRAVELS THROUGH 



in the manner I have explained to you when I 

 fpoke of the Illinois. 



Their children whilft they fuck their mother's 

 milk, are daily bathed in cold water during win- 

 ter ; and when they grow up, the earth is their 

 bed. As the Indians love their children very 

 muchj they accuftom them very early to fa- 

 tigue ; and indeed as their whole body is naked, 

 it is no more fenfible to the cold than the face 

 and hands. 



The old men, that cannot follow them, 

 whenever they make a retreat, defire to be killed 

 with clubs, both to fpare them the wretchednefs 

 of a decrepit condition, and to avoid falling 

 into the hands of their enemies, who would cer- 

 tainly burn or eat them -, for the Indians in their 

 wars kill men, women and infants at the breaft, 

 which together with the ravages of the fmall 

 pox, is a caufe of the depopulation of America. 



It will not be amifs Sir, to obferve that 

 it is merely an adt of humanity on cer- 

 !:ain occafions when a fon puts an end to his fa-. 

 iher's life. The Indians have a great veneration 

 for their old men ; they regulate their condud. 

 by their advice, for tbey undertake nothing 



with' 



