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ACCOUNT OF THE INDIANS. 



ever, the fairest and most cleanly. * The Sau- 

 teux women differ from all others, by turning 

 their toes very much inwards, in walking. The 

 Assiniboins, of both sexes, are the best made, and 

 walk the most erect, of any tribe that I have 

 ever seen. Fools and disfigured persons, are sel- 

 dom to be met with among the Indians ; the rea- 

 son of which, I believe to be, that their mothers 

 put them to death as soon as they discover their 

 unhappy condition. 



All Indian children, when young, are laced in 

 a kind of bag. This bag is made of a piece of 

 leather, about two feet square, by drawing a string, 

 inserted in the lower end, and lacing the two 

 sides together. Some moss is placed in the bot- 

 tom of this bag ; the child is then laid into it, and moss 

 is inserted between its legs. The bag is then laced 

 the fore side of the child as high as its neck. This 

 bag is laid upon a board, to which it is fastened by 

 means of a strip of leather, passing several times 

 round both the board and the bag. At the top of 

 this board, a bow passes round from one side to the 

 other, perpendicular to its surface, on which the In- 

 dians fasten small bejls, which they obtain from us, 

 or the claws of animals, by way of ornament, and 

 which rattle, when the child is carried by its 

 mother, suspended from her shoulders, by 

 means of a cord or belt fastened to the board. 



