238 Expedition to the 



out by the permanent ones, either fall from the mouth, or 

 are gently extracted by the fingers of the parent. 



Monstrous births sometimes occur, though rarely, and it 

 is not known, that infants are ever destroyed by their pa- 

 rents in consequence of deformity, unless the degree of mal- 

 formation is excessive. The Indians mention two monsters 

 which were born in their village ; one of these they repre- 

 sent as resembling a white bear ; and the other a cray fish ; 

 they were both destroyed. The husband of the squaw, who 

 gave birth to the former, said that she must have had con- 

 nection with a white bear, but she asserted that the produc- 

 tion of the monster was occasioned by a fright, which she 

 received at seeing her husband suddenly, whilst he was per- 

 sonating that animal both in dress and gesture. 



The magi affect to converse with the foetus in utero, when 

 the mother perceives it to be uneasy ; they also sometimes 

 venture to predict its sex. 



Abortion is effected, agreeably to the assertions of the 

 squaws, by blows with the clenched hand, applied upon the 

 abdomen, or by repeated and violent pressure upon that part, 

 or by rolling on the stump of a tree, or other hard body. 

 The pregnant squaw is induced thus to procure abortion, in 

 consequence of the jealousy of her husband, or in order to 

 conceal her illicit amours, to which all the married squaws, 

 with but few exceptions, are addicted. 



The infant, when recently born, is of a reddish-brown co- 

 lour, but in a short time it becomes whitish, though never 

 so pure a white, as that of the children of white people ; the 

 change to the national complexion is then gradual, and in- 

 dependent of exposure, inasmuch as those parts of their bo- 

 dies, which are perpetually concealed from the light, change 

 simultaneously with the face. 



The abdomen of the children protrudes very considerably ; 

 and the sole article of dress, which the younger boys wear 

 during the warm season, is a small belt of cloth around the 



