Tooker] 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 15 



trals, Hurons, and Iroquois combined ( JR 27 : 27) . The extent of the 

 animosity between the Neutral and the Fire Nation is indicated by 

 their battles. About 1640 the Neutral took 100 prisoners; in the 

 followmg year, with an army of 2,000, they took over 170 prisoners 

 ( JR 21 : 195) ; m 1642, they attacked a palisaded village of the Fire 

 Nation with an army of 2,000 ( JR 27 : 25) . 



The Neutral practiced the same kind of cruelties on their prisoners 

 as did the Huron. But, milike the latter who either spared the 

 women or, having knocked them down in the heat of battle, took a 

 piece of their bodies, the Neutral burned women prisoners as well as 

 men (JR21: 195). 



The dress of the Neutral was like that of the Huron. So also was 

 their food. The Neutral grew corn, beans, and squash ; their fisliing 

 was equal to that of the Huron ; and they hunted "stags, cows, wild- 

 cats, wolves, black beasts, beaver, and other animals" for their skins 

 and meat. Flocks of wild turkeys roamed the fields and woods of 

 their country. Wild fruits were to be fomid, chestnuts and wild 

 apples being possibly more abundant than in Huronia ( JR 21 : 195- 

 197). Deer were also more plentiful in this country than in any 

 other (S 225). They grew a large quantity of very good tobacco, 

 which they traded to their neighbors ( S 158 ) . 



As among the Hurons, the basic Neutral garment was a skin. Ac- 

 cording to the Jesuits, the Neutral men were less modest than the 

 Huron : many did not use the breechcloth and others used it "in such 

 a way that with great difficulty is that concealed which should not be 

 seen." The w^omen were ordinarily clothed from at least the w^aist 

 to at least the knees. The skins were dressed with much care and skill 

 and decorated in many ways. Like their clothing, their bodies might 

 be decorated; in this case with tattooing (JR 21 : 197) which, common 

 among both the Tobacco and Neutral tribes, was done by perforating 

 the skin on the face, neck, breast, or some other part of the body with 

 a needle, sharp awl, or thorn to make an eagle, snake, or other figure. 

 Powdered charcoal or other black coloring matter was then traced over 

 the figure, indelibly imprinting the designs (JR 38: 251) with which 

 some of them were covered from head to foot ( JR 21 : 197) . 



The Neutral disposed of their dead in a manner different from the 

 Huron. The latter buried their dead immediately after death and 

 reinterred them at the Feast of the Dead. The Neutral took their 

 dead to the burying ground only at the latest possible time, when 

 decomposition made the bodies insupportable. Thus, the dead bodies 

 often remained in their houses for the entire winter. After the 

 corpse had finally been put outside on a scaffold and after the flesh 

 had decayed, the bones were taken and put here and there in the 

 houses until the Feast of the Dead. As these bones were constant 

 reminders of loss, the Neutral women frequently cried and made 



