UNITED STATES. 



129 



Chippeways as well as some other tribes have sometimes been cannibals, in the case of 

 enemies, taken or killed in war. 



The Kansas and the Pawnee tribes are not much addicted to ardent spirits. They live like 

 all Indians west of the Mississippi, a partially roving life. They have intermarried with the 

 Osages. They do not marry those to whom they are remotely related. Widows mourn a 

 year, clothed during that time in a negligent and ragged dress. At the expiration of this period 

 the husband's bi other generally takes the widow as one of his wives. Children are never 

 punished. It is thought to be a good sign when they are wilful and headstrong. " He will 

 make a good warrior," say the parents, " he will not be controlled." In travelling, infants are 



lashed to a board, as in many tribes. The at- 

 tachments of paternity are strong among the 

 Kanzas, and young men, who, in childhood, have 

 been coupled out as friends, are little less at- 

 tached than brothers. The men cut their hair 

 except a small lock on the crown, that if they 

 are vanquished in battle the enemy may have 

 the advantage of the scalp. Many of these In- 

 dians are tattooed. In summer they carry fans of 

 turkey feathers. The Kaskaias, Shiennes, &c. 

 have ffcW settled villages, but rove about for sub- 

 sistence, living in lodges of skins. These are 

 of a conical shape. The Osages live on the 

 Osage River, and pay some attention to agricul- 

 ture. They are well formed and tall, though they 

 believe that their founder was a snail, who inter- 



IntUan Tent of Skins. 



no reply ; he then placed his mouth close to lier ear, and 

 vociferated, " I am hungry, give me some food." The 

 wife thought she heard a buzzing in her ear, and remarked 

 it to one who sat near her. The enraged husband now 

 summoning all his strength, struck her a blow upon her 

 forehead. She only complained of feeling a shooting pain 

 there, such as is not unfrequent, and raising her hand to 

 her head, remarked, " I feel a slight headache." 



Foiled thus in every attempt to make himself known, the 

 warrior chief began to reflect upon what he had heard in 

 his youth, that the spirit was sometimes permitted to leave 

 the body and wander about. He reflected that possibly 

 his body may have remained upon tiie field of battle, 

 while his spirit only accompanied liis returning friends. 

 He determined to return upon their track, although it was 

 four days' journey to tlie place. He accordingly began 

 his journey immediately. For three days he pursued his 

 way without meeting anything uncommon, but on the 

 fourth, towards evening, as he came to the skirts of the 

 battle-field, he saw a fire in the pat'i before him. He 

 walked to one side to avoid stepping into it, btit the fire 

 also had moved its position, and was still before him. He 

 then went in another direction, but the mysterious fire 

 still crossed his path, and seemed to bar his entrance to 

 the scene of conflict. In short, whichever way he took, 

 the fire was still before him ; no expedient seemed capable 

 of eluding it. " Thou demon," he exclaimed at length, 

 " why dost thou bar my approach to the field of battle ? 

 Knowest thou not that I am a spirit also, and that I seek 

 again to enter my body ? Or dost thou presume that I 

 shall return without effecting my object Know that 1 

 have never been defeated by the enemies of my nation, 

 and will not be defeated by thee " So saying, he made 

 a sudden effort and jumped through the flame. In this 

 exertion he awoke from his trance, having lain eiffht days 

 on the field of battle. He found himself sitting on the 

 ground, with his back supported by a tree, and his bow 

 leaninof against his shoulder, having all his warlike dress 

 and implements upon his body, the same as they had been 

 left by his friends. He looked up and beheld a large war 

 eagle sitting in the tree above his head. He immediately 

 recognised this bird ti be the same he had dreamt of in 

 his youth, and which he had selected as his guardian 

 spirit, or personal maneto. This bird had carefully 



17 



watched his body, and prevented other ravenous birds 

 from devouring it. He got up and stood some time upon 

 iiis feet; but he found himself weak and much exhausted. 

 The blood upon his wound had staunched itself, and he 

 now bound it up. He possessed the knowledge of such 

 roots as were efficacious for its cure. These he carefully 

 sought in the woods. Some of them he pounded between 

 stones, and applied externally ; others he chewed and 

 swallowed. In a short time he found himself so much 

 recovered as to be able to commence his journey ; but he 

 suffered greatly from hunger, not being able to see any 

 large animals. With his bow and arrows, however, he 

 killed small birds during the day, which he roasted before 

 the fire at night. In this way he sustained himself until 

 he came to a water that separated his wife and friends 

 from him. He then gave that peculiar whoop whicli in- 

 dicates the safe return of an absent friend. The signal 

 was instantly known, and a canoe despatched t4 brmg 

 him across. But while this canoe was absent, conjecture 

 was exhausting itself in designating the unknown person 

 who had given this friendly intimation of his approach 

 All who had been of the war party had returned, excep, 

 those who were killed on the field. It might be some 

 neighboring hunter. It might be some deceptJon of their 

 enemies. It was rash to send a canoe witliout knowing 

 that any of their friends were absent. In the height of 

 this conjecture, the warrior chief was landed amidst the 

 shouts of his friends and relations, who thronged from 

 every lodge to welcome their failhful leader. When tlie 

 first wild bursts of wonder and joy had subsided, and some 

 degree of quiet was restored in the village, he related to 

 his people the account of his adventures, which has been 

 given. He then concluded his narration by telhng them 

 that it is pleasing to tlie spirit of a deceased person to 

 have a fire built upon his grave for four nights after his in- 

 terment : that it is four days' journey to the land appointed 

 for the residence of the spirit: that in its journey thitiier 

 the spirit stood in need of a fire every night at the place 

 of its encampment : and that if the friends kindled this 

 funeral fire upon the place where the body was deposited, 

 the spirit had the benefit of its light and warmth in its 

 sojourning. If they neglected this rite the spirit would 

 itself be subjected to the irksome task of building its 

 own fires at night. 



