298 A JOURNEY TO THE 



is exposed — Their opinion of the Aurora Borealis, &c. — Some Account 

 of M.atonabbee^ and his services to his country, as well as to the 

 Hudson^ s Bay Company. 



y4 S to the persons of the Northern Indians, they are 



/ % in general above the middle size ; well-proportioned, 



A m strong, and robust, but not corpulent. They do 



not possess that activity of body, and liveliness of disposition, 



which are so commonly met with among the other tribes of 



Indians who inhabit the West coast of Hudson's Bay. 



Their complexion is somewhat of the copper cast, inclining 

 rather toward a dingy brown ; and their hair, like all the other 

 tribes in India, is black, strong, and straight.* Few of the 

 men have any beard ; this seldom makes its appearance till 

 they are arrived at middle-age, and then is by no means equal 

 in quantity to what is observed on the faces of the generality 

 of Europeans ; the little they have, however, is exceedingly 

 strong and bristly. Some of them take but little pains to 

 eradicate their beards, though it is considered as very unbe- 

 coming ; and those [306] who do, have no other method than 

 that of pulling it out by the roots between their fingers and 

 the edge of a blunt knife. Neither sex have any hair under 

 their armpits, and very little on any other part of the body, 

 particularly the women ; but on the place where Nature plants 

 the hair, I never knew them attempt to eradicate it. 



Their features are peculiar, and different from any other 

 tribe in those parts ; for they have very low foreheads, small 

 eyes, high cheek-bones, Roman noses, full cheeks, and in 

 general long broad chins. Though few of either sex are 

 exempt from this national set of features, yet Nature seems 

 to be more strict in her observance of it among the females, 



* I have seen several of the Southern Indian men who were near six feet 

 high, preserve a single lock of their hair, that, when let down, would trail on the 

 ground as they walked. This, however, is but seldom seen ; and some have 

 suspected it to be false : but I have examined the hair of several of them, and 

 found it to be real. 



