INDIANA. 



Jecifions and advice they rely in all matters that concern 

 them, whether of health, war, or hunting. Liberty is the 

 darliner patTion of the Indians ; it is this which maiies life 

 fiipportable, and to this they are ready to flicritice every 

 thing. Some tribes acknowledge a head or king, but he is 

 reverenced as a father rather than feared as a monarch. He 

 has no guards, no prifons, no officers of juftice : in moil 

 cafes no other qualification is neceflary for their chiefs, but 

 age, experience, and ability in conducting their affairs. 

 Every tranfaction is performed with much ceremony; and 

 to fi.x the remembrance of them in their niinds, they have 

 belts of fmall fhells or beads of different colours, ivhich 

 have all a different meaning, according to their colour or 

 arrangement. Thefe belts arc carefully treafured up in 

 each town, and ferve as the public records of the nation ; 

 and to thefe they occafionally have recourfc when any djf- 

 putes happen between them and their neighbours. 



When the ancients among the Indians have refolved upon 

 a war, they do not declare what nation they mean to attack, 

 nor the time when the attack fliali be made, in order that 

 the enemy may be off his guard, and unprepared for de- 

 fence : but the principal captain fummons the youths of the 

 town TO which he belongs, the war-kettle is fet on the fire, 

 the war-fongs and dances begin ; the hatchet is fent to all 

 the villages of the fame nation, and to all its allies ; the fire 

 eatches, and the war-fongs are heard in all parts. The 

 prime qualities in an Indian war are vigilance and attention, 

 to give and avoid furprize : likewife patience and fti-eiigth 

 to endure the mtolerable fatigues and hardfhips which al- 

 ways attend it. The fate of their prifoners is the moll 

 fcvere of all : during the greatell part of their journey 

 homewards they fufl'er no injury ; but when they arrive at 

 the territories of the conquering ftate, or at thofe of their 

 allies, the people from every village meet them, and think 

 that they ihow their attachment to their friends by their 

 barbarous treatment of the prifoners. Many writers have 

 alTerted that the Indians, even at the matureit flage of their 

 exillence, are only furnilhed with hair on their heads, and 

 that the other parts of the body are always free from it. 

 Tliis, however, i^not the trutli, for, naturally, their bodies 

 refemble tliofe of the Europeans ; but regarding the beard, 

 &c. as deformities, they pluck out each hair by its root, in 

 order to increafe their beauty. The men of every Indian 

 nation differ in drefs from each other, excepting thofe who 

 trade with Europeans ; thefe exchange their furs for 

 blankets, fliirts, and other apparel, which they wear as much 

 for ornam.ent as necefTity. Thofe among the men who wi(h 

 to appear gayer than the rell, pluck out the hair from their 

 lieads, except from a fpot on tlie top of it, about the fize of 

 a crown piece, where it is permitted to grow to a confider- 

 ab!e length : on this is falUned a plume of feathers of vari- 

 ous colours, with filver or ivory quills. The manner of cut- 

 ting and ornamenting this part of the head dillingi)iflies 

 different nations from each other. They paint their faces 

 red and black, and thuir whole bodies when they go to war. 

 Young Indians, who are defirons of excelHng their compa- 

 nions in finery, flit the outward rim of both ears, at the 

 fame time that they take care not to feparate them entirely, 

 but leave the place tlins cut flill untouched at both extremi- 

 ties; around this fpongy fubftance they twift brafs wire, till 

 the weight draws the amputated rim into a bow of five or 

 fix inches in diameter, and drags it ahnoll down to the 

 (houlder. It is alio a common cuftom among them to bore 

 their nofcs, and wear in them pendants of di&rent forts : 

 fea-fhells are much worn by thofe of the interior, and are 

 rccko.aed ornamental. Indians in general pay greater at- 

 tcutioii to the i: drefs, and to the ornaments with whiclitLey 



decorate theii' perfons, than to the accommodation of their 

 huts or tents. They conllruft the latter in the following 

 method : being provided with poles of a proper length, thes" 

 fallen two of them acrofs near the ends with bands made ut 

 bark : having done this, they raife them up, and extend the 

 bottom of each as wide as they purpofe to make the area o[ 

 the tent: they then credt others of an equal height, and li^ 

 them foas to fupport the two principal ones : over the to;j 

 they fpread the Ikins of bealls. Thefe tents have neitliL. 

 chimnies nor wmdows ; there is only an aperture left in tho 

 middle of the roof, through which the fmoke is difcharged. 

 They have lliins alfo for beds, generally thofe of the bear, 

 which are placed in rows on the groiuid ; and if the floor i.- 

 not large enough to contain beds fufficient for the accommo- 

 dation of the whole family, a frame is erccled a few fetC 

 from the ground, in which the younger part of it fleep. A, 

 the habitations of the Indians are thus rade, their domeflic 

 utenfils are few in number, and plain in their formation. 

 The tools with which they falhion them are fo awkward anJ 

 defedlive, that it is not only impoflible to form them will 

 any degree of neatnefs, but the time required in the execa- 

 tion is fo confiderable, as to deter them from engaging in tl. 

 manufafture of thofe which are not abfolutely neceffary. All 

 the tribes are now polTefT'd of knives, and ileels to llnke fire 

 with : thefe are regarded as elTential to the common ufes of 

 life, and the Indians ufually purchafe them with flaves. In- 

 dians, by a furprifing fagacity, v.ill crofs a forell or plain of 

 the greatell extent, and reach with the utmoll exadilnefs the 

 I)kce of their dellination without any deviation from a dlreft 

 hue. Their memory is very tenacious, their belts of wam- 

 pum preferve the fubftance of treaties which they have con.^ 

 eluded with the nei>;hbouring tribes for ages back, to which 

 they will appeal with as much readinefs and perfpicuity as 

 Europeans can to their written records. Every nation pays 

 great refpeil to the dictates of age. The advice of a father 

 is 'regarded : but the decifions of a grandfather create in the 

 minds of ihe young an awe which they cannot withlland : his 

 words are confidered and obeyed as oracles. The Indians - 

 are fond of gaming, and often flake their arms, their apparel v. 

 and every thing of which they are pofTeffed : they are 

 Itrangers to all diflindlion of property, except in articles of. 

 domeflic ufe, which every one confiders as his own, and in- 

 creafes as circumltances admit. They are extremely liberal 

 to each other, and iupply the exigencies of thofe who belong 

 to the fame band with their fuperfiuities. Of the value of 

 money the Indians, excepting thofe who live near the Euro- 

 pean colonies, have no idea, but confider it as a fource of 

 innumerable evils. They are equally indifferent to the pro- 

 dailions of art. They are ignorant of the fciences, anil 

 feem quite unacquainted with the firll principles of alb-o- 

 nomy, yet they contrive to divide the time in a rational and . 

 perfpicuous manner. They count their years by winters, or, . 

 as they exprefs themfelves, by their fnows ; and they divide 

 the years by the moons ; and on the firll appearance of' 

 each new moon they repeat fome joyful founds, ilretch- 

 ing, at the fame time, their hands towards it. Every 

 month has with them a name expreffivc of its feafon : that 

 which anfwers to our March or April, they call the luorm 

 monih, becaufe they obferve that at this period the worms 

 quit their reti'eats in the bnrk of trees, wood, &c. in which 

 they have fhcltcred themfelves during the winter :,. they have 

 alio the month or moon ot flowers ; the month of corn ; 

 the cold month ; the fnow month, &c. When the moon 

 docs not appear above the horizon, they fay the moon is 

 dead, and fome call the three lad days of each moon " naked 

 days." They have no divifions of weeks,, but days tlicy 

 cour.t by fl«eps ; half days by pointing to the fuu at noon, 



and 



