126 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



From Duniont : 



The savages are very vindictive, and there are none who do not nndertake 

 to revenge the death of those of their rehitions who have been Isilled in war. 

 But they never nndertalce it by bravery; it is always by treachery that they 

 attacli. If they think they have anything to fear they take good care not to risk 

 it. They have devices more cunning than those of the fox to assure the success 

 of their vengeance, and an admirable patience in watching the occasion to 

 accomplish it. In order to obtain the scalp of an enemy they wait eight con- 

 secutive days on his route, living during that time only on a single ear of ground 

 corn. 



It is this spirit of vengeance so natural to these savage nations which per- 

 petuates among them these frequent wars which desolate and destroy them, 

 but it ought not to be imagined that they make these, as with us, in great bauds 

 with much noise and expense. Their armies are only simple parties, and their 

 baggage as well as their munitions are never so considerable that they ai-e 

 unable to carry them themselves. When these savages have resolved to go to 

 war they leave their village 20 or 30 together more or less, provided with pro- 

 visions, axes, guns, and war clubs, and co^imanded by a war chief whom they 

 obey. "With this outfit they cross the immense forests with which this entire 

 country is covered, and although they do not find there any broken trails, they 

 nevertheless do not march haphazard, but by consulting the sun always which 

 serves them as a conductor and guide, and directing their route by this lumi- 

 nary to the east, west, north, or south, according to the position of the village 

 which they are going to attack. As soon as they have arrived there they 

 approach as closely as possible and camp in the thickest part of the woods where 

 they take the precaution to make no fire and never to shoot for fear of being 

 discovered. However, they separate during the night to scout singly and to ex- 

 amine on what cabin they ought to fall. Are they agreed on that which they 

 desire to attack? They ordinarily choose for the purpose daj^break, enter the 

 cabin, kill all those whom they find asleep there, pillage the house and retire. 

 But they do not do it until after they have left marks of the inroad they have 

 made in this place. These are small wooden clubs on which they incise with 

 the point of the knife either the figure which is peculiar to their village, a sun, 

 for example, for the Natchez, a crawfish for the Houmas, an alligator for the 

 Bayagoulas, etc., or perhaps that which the chief of their party wears on his 

 stomach. These marks are like coats-of-arms to them. They throw many of 

 them about here and there in the place where they have struck some blow, and 

 it is these that they call incised sticks (hois graves). 



However, it does not always happen that they are able to make these attacks 

 on a cabin, either because the hostile village is inclosed in palings or palisades, 

 or because they do not believe themselves strong enough to attack 'it. Then, 

 established in the depth of the wood, they separate to go hunting, not beasts, 

 but men, or perhaps they wait until some one from the hostile village passes, 

 and when they see him within striking distance they throw themselves upon 

 him, kill him with blows of their axes, and carry away his scalp. If many 

 pass together, they make use of their guns to kill them, and, after having 

 taken their scalps in the same manner, they throw the incised sticks about 

 and retire, taking with them the prisoners they have made, if there are any, in 

 order to burn them in their village. If, after having wailed a long time, none 

 passes, so that they are obliged to retire without doing anything, either because 

 the season is past or because their provisions begin to fail them, they are unable 

 then to throw the incised sticks about, since they have not done any execution, 

 but in order to make it known that they have come with that intention they 



