426 BERGH'S GROUP. [1830. 



other savage tribes. They have a handsome nose, moderately elevated, 

 with a mouth well proportioned to the other features of the face, and a 

 beautiful set of teeth, whiter than the purest ivory. Dimpled cheeks 

 and double chins are common to the young of both sexes. The men 

 have short thick necks, the front part of which is generally covered 

 with a long black beard, which is permitted to grow only from the chin. 

 Some of their principal chiefs, however, wear very large mustachios. 

 They have large ears, in the lower part of which is a slit sufficiently 

 large for the reception of an ornament of the size of a goose-egg. This 

 is often decorated with the teeth of various kinds of fish, shells, birds' 

 bills, feathers, and flowers of the valleys. They also wear a neck 

 ornament of nearly the same materials. They are seldom tattooed, 

 excepting from the lower part of the neck to the pit of the stomach ; 

 which is often, on the breast of a chief, one uninterrupted tattoo, repre- 

 senting various imaginary figures, executed with much taste and neat- 

 ness. The dress of both sexes is like that of their eastern neighbours, 

 from which it does not vary in any important particular. They wear 

 rings, or bracelets, of tortoise-shell on their arms, and of pearl-shell 

 on their legs and ancles. For personal cleanliness they may defy 

 competition with any people on earth. They are naturally good- 

 humoured, friendly, lively, cheerful, and active ; uncommonly kind and 

 affectionate to their wives and children, and pay great deference and 

 respect to age. 



The women generally are of about the same size as ours, delicately 

 formed, with very slender waists, and exquisitely moulded busts. Their 

 hands and feet are not larger than those of our children at twelve years 

 of age ; and I have frequently, with both hands, spanned the waists of 

 girls of eighteen and twenty years old. They are marriageable at the 

 age of one hundred and fifty moons, which is about twelve years. 

 They have small heads, high foreheads, large black eyes, full plump 

 cheeks, handsomely-formed noses, small mouth, and its never-failing 

 appendage in this part of the world, a beautiful set of teeth, which adds 

 a thousand charms to each bewitching smile. Their ears are small, 

 and their necks very delicately formed, back of which flows their long 

 black hair, when not done up on the back of the head. They are ex- 

 tremely modest and sensitive on particular subjects, and blushes can 

 frequently be seen playing through the darkness of their complexions. 

 Their countenances ever express vivacity and cheerfulness ; their 

 movements are elastic and sylph-like ; even the Virginian Pocahontas, 

 on the score of personal attractions and tenderness of disposition, would 

 be thrown in the shade by a comparison with the fascinating females 

 of Bergh's Group. 



Chastity and fidelity in the marriage state are innate principles with 

 these people ; and the possibility of their violation is hardly conceived 

 of. Consequently, their conjugal connexions are almost uniformly 

 happy. A wife never speaks to her husband without a smile of affec- 

 tion on her countenance ; and in all my intercourse with them, I never 

 heard a man speak harshly or unkindly to a female. Their social 

 attachments are also very strong, and even the most distant relation- 

 ships appear to be held more sacred than the nearest and closest are 



