THE MI AMIS. 181 



capacity they yield to no tribes in the west. Little Tortoise, the Indian philoso- 

 pher and friend of Volney, was a Miami : so also, according to Captain Carver, 

 was the celebrated Pontiac, so long the artful and implacable enemy of the 

 English during the past century. 



Little Tortoise gave Volney the following account of the acute perceptions 

 of his tribe. " We can distinguish every nation," said he, '"'at first sight: the face, 

 the complexion, the shape, the knees, the legs, the feet, are to us certain marks of 

 distinction. By the print of the foot we can distinguish not only men, women 

 and children, but also tribes."* 



With some admirable traits the Miamis mingle others that are truly deplor- 

 able. They are excessively sensual, and like the adjacent tribes, their fondness 

 for spirituous liquors has reduced them to a very low state of degradation : the 

 graphic picture which Volney drew of their social condition fifty years ago, is 

 sufficient evidence of this factf 



Their revenge was remarkable even among Indians ; and to such excess was 

 this demoniac passion indulged, that the Miamis and Kickapoos once embraced a 

 society of men whose office it was to appease the spirit of revenge, whether 

 national or individual, by devouring prisoners taken in war. It is further stated 

 that the members of this inhuman fraternity held their olfice by hereditary 

 privilege, and that their last celebration took place so recently as the year 1780, 

 since which time it has been discontinued. 



Some of the Miami tribes have resisted every attempt at civilisation and 

 conversion, and remain uncompromising Pagans to this day.J Even the Jesuits, 

 during the French ascendancy, could make no impression on them ; for one of 

 these missionaries declares that the tribes of the Illinois can only be converted by 

 a miracle from heaven.^ 



* View of the Climate of the U. S. p. 412. t Loco citat. 



t Morse, Indian Report, Ap. p. 109. § Lettres Edifiantes, XI, p. 304. 



46 



