36 



Ql\)t iTanncr's ittonll)l|j bisitor. 



with the lower pnrt of the howl, and siiioUes 

 ai,'ain as before. The feet, and arms, and breast, 

 are successively toiiehed ill a similar way; and 

 after each toiichin}:, the sacioii smoke is inhaled 

 as before. The pipe is then passed to the one 

 on his right, who smokes as his fellow had done. 

 And thns the Great Pipe goes round, and the 

 smoke rises and mingles with the votive oftln-- 

 ings to the Great !?pirit that are suspended above 

 their heads. Immediately alter this smoking, is 

 believed to be a favored time for oftL-ring pray- 

 er to the Great Spirit. They pray for cour- 

 age, and victory over their toes in the cam- 

 ])aign they are about to undertake; and that 

 they may be protected from the spirits of evil- 

 minded medicine men. They then make a sol- 

 emn and irrevocable vow, that if these medicine 

 men do not make them sick — do not enter into 

 their bosoms ami destroy their strength and 

 courage, they will never again see their relatives 

 and tribe, unless they do so in garments stained 

 with the blood of their enemies. 



Having passed through these ceremonies, they 

 rise and dance to the music uf war chants, till 

 they are exhausted and swoon. In this state of 

 insensibility, they imagine that the spirits of the 

 brave dead visit them and teach them their duty, 

 and inform them of the events that will transpire 

 during the campaign. Three days and nights 

 are passed in performing these ceremonies ; du- 

 ring which time they neither eat nor drink, nor 

 leave the lodge. At early dawn of the fourth day, 

 they select a leader from their number, appoint a 

 distant jilace of meeting; and emerging from the 

 lodge, each walks away from it alone to the place 

 of rendezvous. Having arrived there, they de- 

 termine whose liorses are to be stolen, whose 

 scalps taken ; and commence their march. They 

 always go out on foot, wholly dependent upon 

 their own energies for food and every other ne- 

 cessary. Among other things, it is considered a 

 great disgiaoe to be long without meat and the 

 means of riding. 



It sometimes happens that these parties are un- 

 able to satisfy the conditions of their consecra- 

 tion during the first season ; and ihereliire are 

 compelled to resort to some ingenious and satis- 

 factory evasion of the obligations of their vow, 

 or go into winter quarters till another opening 

 spring allows them to jirosecnte their designs. 

 The trappers relate a case of this kind, which 

 led to a curious incident. A war party of Black- 

 feet had spent the season in seeking for their tn- 

 emies without success. The storms of api'roach- 

 ing winter had begun to howl aronnd, and a wish 

 to return to the log fires and buffalo meat, and 

 hilarities and friendships of the camp of the tribe 

 in the high vales of the Upper Missouri, had be- 

 come ardent, when a fijriorn, solitary trapper, 

 who had long resided among them, entered their 

 camp. Affectionate and sincere greetings passed 

 at the moment of meeting. The trapper, as is 

 the custom, was invited to eat; and all appeared 

 friendly and glad. But soon tla^ Indians became 

 reserved, anil whispered ominously auiongtlicm- 

 selves. At length came to the ear of the trapper 

 high words of debate in regard to his life. They 

 all agreed that his white skin indubitably indica- 

 ted that lie belonged to the " Great Tribe" of their 

 natural enemies, and that with the blood of a 

 white upon their garments, they would have ful- 

 filled the terms of their vow, and could return 

 to their friends and tribe. But a [lart of them se- 

 riously questioned whether the sacred names of 

 friend and brother, which they had for years ap- 

 idied to him. had not so changed his natural re- 

 lationship to them, that the Great Spirit, to whom 

 they had made their vow. had sent him amon;; 

 them in the character which they themselves had 

 given him — as a tiiend and a brother. If so. they 

 reasoned that the sacrifice of his life would only 

 anger Ilim, and by no means relieve them from 

 the obligations of their vow. .Another party rea- 

 soned that the Great Spirit had sent this victim 

 among them to test their fidelity to Him. He 

 liad indeed been their friend; they had called 

 him broihcr: hut he was al.so their natural ene- 

 my; and that the Great One to whom they ha<l 

 made their vow, would not release them at .all 

 from its obligations, if they allowed this fiictitions 

 relation of fiiendship to interfere with obedience 

 to Himself The oilier party rejoined, that al- 

 though the trapper was tlieir n;itural enemy, he 

 was not one within the lueaning of their vow; 

 llial the taking of his life would be an evasion of 



its sacre<l obligations— a blot upon their coinage 

 • — and an outrage upon the laws of friendship ; 

 that they could find other victims, but that their 

 fi-iend could not find another life. The other i)ar- 

 ty rebutted, that the trapper was confessedly their 

 natural enemy ; that the conditions of their vow- 

 required the blood of their natural enemy : and 

 that the Great S|)irit had sufficiently shown His 

 views of the relative obligations of frieiidshi|) 

 and obedience to Himself in sending the trap.pei- 

 to their camp. The trapper's friends perceiving 

 that the obstinacy of their opponents was unlike- 

 ly to yield to reason, proposed as a compromise, 

 that, since, if they should adjudge the trapper 

 their enemy within the requirements of their 

 vow, his blood only would be needed to stain 

 their garments, they woulil agree to take from 

 him so much as might be necessary for that luir- 

 pose ; and that in consideration of being a broth- 

 er, he should retain enough to keep his heart 

 alive. Asitlieir return to their tribe woidd be se- 

 cured by this measure, little objection was raised 

 to it. The flint lancet was aiq>lied to the veins 

 of the white man; their garments were died with 

 his blood; they departed for their nation's vil- 

 lage, and the poor trapjier for the beaver among 

 the hills. 



JMy worthy old guide, Kelly, bad often seen 

 these medicine lodges. He informed me that 

 many of his votive offerings before mentioiied 

 are iiermitted to decay with the lodge in which 

 they are hung; that the penalty to any mortal 

 who should dare apjiropriate them to his use was 

 death. A certain white man, however, who had 

 been robbed of his blanket at the setting in of 

 winter, came upon one of these .sacred lodges 

 erected by the young Arrapahoes, which contain- 

 ed, among other things, a blanket that seemed 

 well calculated to shield him li-om the cold. He 

 spread it over his shivering frame, and very un- 

 advisedly went into the Arrapahoe village. The 

 Indians knew the sacred deposite, hehl a council, 

 c;dled the culprit before them, and demanded 

 why he had stolen from the Great Spirit ? In 

 exrnlpation, he stated that he had been robbed; 

 that the Great Spirit saw him naked in the wintry 

 wind ; pitied him : showed Ijim the sacred lodge, 

 and bade him lake the blanket. "That seems to 

 be well," said the principal chief, to his fellow- 

 coimsellor.s, "the Great Spirit has an undoubted 

 right to give away his own property ;" and the 

 trader was released. 



depending on consumption, take nearly as miicli 

 from the poor man as the rich one. And if we 

 cannot countervail the inequality of indirect tax- 

 ation, we shoidd be cautious not to increase it 

 by a corresponding inequality in our direct taxes. 

 It is worthy of your consideration, w nether some 

 relief may not be fcnnd by transfijrring the as- 

 sessment "on mortgaged estates to the extent of 

 the amount secured, from the mortgagor to the 

 mortgagee. This would prevent the same prop- 

 erty from being twice taxed, or the money at in- 

 terest from escaping t.ixntion. 



Another measure of relief to the poor tax jiay- 

 er, which I recommend to your fiivorable regard, 

 is the reduction of the poll-tax. This would ac- 

 conqilish two objects, the one affecting essential 

 political rights, and both worthy of earnest con- 

 sideration. 



Extract from the Message of Gov. Morton, to 

 the l^egislatnre of Massachusetts. 



The State, as well as the nation, having derived 

 its revenue tVom other sources, has left the sub- 

 ject of direct taxation to towns and counties. — 

 But if the State should never have occasion to 

 resort to it again, it is not the less our duty to 

 prescribe just and equable rules of assessinent. 

 From my observation of the operatioiis of the 

 existing laws, I fear that ihe burdens fall with 

 unequal weight upon different portions of the 

 community. Real estate, which is not the most 

 proclnclive" species of property, being incapable 

 of concealment, receives more than its just share 

 of taxation ; while personal property, and es- 

 peciallv shares in joint-stock companies and mon- 

 ey at interest, being less tangible and visible, in 

 some measure escape the notice of assessors. — 

 The agricultural interest is not only the first and 

 greatest interest, but the basisof all other branch- 

 es of industry. It com(iiehends three times as 

 many persons as any other pursuit, and more 

 than'all others unite<f. As a class, they ask less 

 and contribnie more than any other class. .And 

 w bile they seek no special privileges or exclusive 

 advantages for themselves, they are peculiarly 

 liable to be preyed upon by them in the hands 

 of others. If any remedy for the unequal bur- 

 dens imposed upon them can be devised, it will 

 be our duly, as lam sure it will be our pleasure 

 to adopt it. 



Another remark which, doubtless, has occur- 

 red to every one conversant with the i)ractical 

 course of direct taxation, is that the assessments 

 are almost invariably heavier u|ion the poorer 

 thauTipon the wealthier classes. As the property 

 diminishes, the ability to pay taxes more rapidly 

 diminishes. Vet it is fi?aied that in practice, the 

 pioporlion of the taxes to the estate, increases as 

 Ihe abiliiy to pay decreases. This tendency 

 should be" strenuously counteracted, especially 

 as, in our conq.licated system, the indirect taxes. 



From the Berkshire Farmer. 

 Mr. Foote's Prize Essay. 



" A good asriculturist wUl neglect no means of forming 

 Jung-he^ps ; "it on!;ht to be his first, and daily caie, for 

 witliout dung there is no harvest." — Chaptal. 

 Prelimhian/ Propositions. 



That vegetation ann'nally appropriates to itself, 

 and thns removes fiom the soil, a certain amount 

 of nutritive jirinciples; and that the removal of 

 a succession of crops, without some comjjensa- 

 tion in the shape of manures, will gradually im- 

 poverish, and, if carried far enough, ultimately 

 exhaust the soil, are propositions so manifestly 

 true as to require no illustration. We every 

 where see that the process last indicated, is sure 

 to be followed by a gradual change in the color 

 and texture of the soil, and by a proportionate 

 diminution of its vegetable products, until, if not 

 arrested, the final result is absolute sterility. 

 • The truth of the converse of these proposi- 

 tions is equally evident. Take an old field which 

 has been reduced to barrenness by an unrelent- 

 ing system of cropping without compensation, 

 and "restore to it a jiortion of those vegetable 

 matters by the abstraction of which its poverty 

 has been occasioned, and amendment is at once 

 the consequence. Repeat the operation, and a 

 further jirogress towanls fertility is made ; exteivl 

 it sufficiently far, and the face of nature is en- 

 tirely renewed, and every symiitom of a full re- 

 covery exhibited. 



From these, and other kindreil considerations 

 readily suggested to the reflecting minil, we draw 

 the following 



Injerences. 



1. That the aiqiropiiate food of vegetation is, 

 for the most liart, neither more nor less than the 

 ultimate results of vegetation itself, modified by 

 the action of the animal organism and the seve- 

 ral processes of fermentation. 



2. That a limited amount only of the food of 

 vegetation is contained in any given quantity of 



S. That a single cro|> cannot be removed from 

 the soil, without diminishing, to a certain extent, 

 its capabilities fcir supporting vegetable life. 



4. That an uninterriqited en jqiing of any giv- 

 en portion of soil, without remuneration, will at 

 len^'ih infallibly reduce it to sterility. 



.1. That the original fertility of any given por- 

 tion of soil can only be maintained by faithfully 

 restoring to it, in the" shape of manures, an amount 

 of vegetable matter equal to that which is annu- 

 ally abstracted from it. 



t). That an impoverisheJ soil can only be restored 

 to its original fertility by the application to it of 

 vegetable matter gTc«(fr than that which is an- 

 nually taken from it. 



7. The most exhausted lands cannot only be 

 regenerated, by sufliriently increasing the pro- 

 portion of vegetable matter in the soil, but raised 

 above the highest point of iheir original fertility. 



8. That the, deteriorated conditionof the ma- 

 jor part of our cultivated soil, is proof conclusive 

 that all the resources of, the farmer have not, in 

 general, been put in requisition. 



9. That the secret of all goo<l fanning lies in 

 the skilfiil management and judicious application 

 of home-made manures. 



10. That it is of the highest importance to the 

 asrricnltmist to study more carefiilly the nature 

 of the soil, the wants of vegetable life, and the 

 mutual relations and dejtendencies of the soil and 

 vegetation ; and above all, to cast about him and 

 explore the sources of those animal, vegetable 

 and mineral substances, the proper application 



