﻿A RESIDENCE AMONG THE INDIANS. 333 



An American infant was carried off by the Indians, and reared 

 by an Indian mother as her own. Of course he grew up in all the 

 savage customs, especially in their admiration of the scalps of an 

 enemy. By and by, he was brought back to civilization, was edu- 

 cated, and became a clergyman. He acquitted himself honorably, 

 and seemed happy in his vocation. But, some years after, he was 

 located near the seat of war between England and the United 

 States, and went out, on one occasion, in his professional black and 

 white, to witness a fight. When he returned, a gentleman noticed 

 his flushed look and hurried manner, and remarked to him that 

 there was blood on his shirt. The young man crossed his hands 

 firmly upon his breast; and his friend, supposing it was to conceal 

 a wound, pulled open the shirt, and saw between it and the breast a 

 bloody scalp. " I could not help it!" cried the victim of habit, and 

 ran instantly back to Indian life, and never more appeared among 

 the whites. 



An Indian never scalps one of his own tribe, no matter how much 

 of a traitor he may have been. He may have escaped and joined 

 the enemies of his tribe ; he may have killed his wife, his children, 

 his chief and king; yet it is just the same. No provocation can 

 induce an Indian to scalp one of his own people, if he knows it. 

 He may kill him in a moment of anger, an occurrence which is 

 by no means rare, --but to scalp him would be a blot upon his fame 

 which time could never efface. 



So jealous are these red men of their honor, that sometimes the 

 least provocation will destroy all care for life in a moment. An 

 instance of this, which occurred while I w r as among them, will illus- 

 trate this point. An Indian in our village, named Mah-ton-wiss, had 

 killed a " Crow " and scalped him, and returned in triumph to his 

 home. It soon became known, however, that his victim was not 

 quite dead when Mah-ton-wiss left him, and that he had been discov- 

 ered in a critical state by his friends, taken home, and that eventu- 

 ally he entirely recovered. When this became known, the mortifi- 

 cation of Mah-ton-wiss can hardly be imagined. He burned all his 

 scalps, and he had several, --among which was that of his still 

 living enemy; and for several days would eat nothing, but sat with 

 his head down upon his knees, a complete picture of misery. At 



