1764] DAVID OWENS. 201 



Early in the season, a soldier named David 

 Owens, who, several years before, had deserted and 

 joined the Indians, came to one of the outposts, 

 accompanied by a young provincial recently taken 

 prisoner on the Delaware, and bringing five scalps. 

 While living among the Indians, Owens had formed 

 a connection with one of their women, who had 

 borne him several children. Growing tired, at 

 length, of the forest life, he had become anxious 

 to return to the settlements, but feared to do so 

 without first having made some atonement for 

 his former desertion. One night, he had been 

 encamped on the Susquehanna, with four Shawanoe 



persons not in the pay of this province, the following several and respec- 

 tive premiums and bounties for the prisoners and scalps of the enemy 

 Indians that shall be taken or killed within the bounds of this province, as 

 limited by the royal charter, or in pursuit from within the said bounds ; 

 that is to say, for every male Indian enemy above ten years old, who 

 shall be taken prisoner, and delivered at any forts garrisoned by the troops 

 in the pay of this province, or at any of the county towns, to the keeper 

 of the common jails there, the sura of one hundred and fifty Spanish 

 dollars, or pieces of eight. For every female Indian enemy, taken pris- 

 oner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian enemy of ten 

 years old or under, taken prisoner and delivered as aforesaid, the sum of 

 one hundred and thirty pieces of eight. For the scalp of every male Indian 

 enemy above the age of ten years, produced as evidence of their being 

 killed, the sum of one hundred and thirty-four pieces of eight. And for 

 the scalp of every female Indian enemy above the age of ten years, pro- 

 duced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty pieces of eight." 

 The action of such measures has recently been illustrated in the 

 instance of New Mexico before its conquest by tlie Americans. The 

 inhabitants of that country, too timorous to defend themselves against 

 the Apaches and other tribes, who descended upon them in frequent 

 forays from the neighboring mountains, took into pay a band of foreigners, 

 chiefly American trappers, for whom the Apache lances had no such 

 terrors, and, to stimulate their exertions, proclaimed a bounty on scalps. 

 The success of the measure was judged admirable, until it was found that 

 the unscrupulous confederates were in the habit of shooting down any 

 Indian, whether friend or enemy, who came within range of their rifles, 

 and that the government had been paying rewards for the scalps of its 

 own allies and dependants. 



