THE CREE INDIANS, OR EYTHINYUWUK. 



323 



courage than an ornament, as the operation is both painful and tedious. The 

 lines on the face are formed by dexterously running an awl under the cuticle, 

 and then drawing a cord, dipped in charcoal and water, through the canal thus 

 formed. The punctures on the body are made by needles of various sizes, set 

 in a frame. A number of hawk-bells attached to this frame serve, by their noise, 

 to cover the groans of the suiferer, and probably for the same reason the process 

 is accompanied with singing. An indelible stain is produced by rubbing a lit- 

 tle finely-powdered willow-charcoal into the puncture. A half-breed, whose arm 

 was amputated by Sir John Richardson, declared that tatooing was not only 

 the more painful operation of the two, but rendered infinitely more difficult to 

 bear by its tediousness, having lasted, in his case, three days. 



The Crees are also fond of painting their faces with vermilion and charcoal. 

 In general the dress of the male consists of a blanket thrown over the shoulders, 

 a leathern shirt or jacket, and a piece of cloth tied round the middle. The 

 women have in addition a long petticoat, and both sexes wear a kind of wide 

 hose, which, reaching from the ankle to the middle of the thigh, are suspended 

 by strings to the girdle. These hose, or " Indian stockings," are commonly or- 

 namented with beads or ribands, and from their convenience have been univer- 

 sally adopted by the white residents, as an essential part of their winter-cloth- 

 ing. Their shoes, or rather soft boots (for they tie round the ankle), are made 

 of dressed moose-skins; and during the winter they wrap several pieces of 

 blanket round their feet. They are fond of European articles of dress, such as 

 great-coats, shawls, and caHcoes, which, however showy they may be at first, are 

 soon reduced to a very filthy condition by their custom of greasing the face and 

 hair with soft fat or marrow. This practice they say preserves the skin soft, and 

 protects it from cold in the winter and the mosquitoes in summer ; but it ren- 

 ders their presence disagreeable to Europeans who may chance to be seated 

 near them in a close tent and near a hot fire. 



The Cree women are not in general treated harshly by their husbands : a 

 great part of the labor, however, falls to the lot of the wife. She makes the 

 hut, cooks, dresses the skins, and for the most part carries the heaviest load ; 

 but when she is unable to perform her task, the husband does not consider it 

 beneath his dignity to assist her. 



The Crees are extremely indulgent to their children. The father never 

 chastises them ; and the mother, though more hasty in her temper, seldom be- 

 stows a blow on a troublesome child. 



The cradle in use among them is well adapted to their mode of life, and is 

 one of their neatest articles of furniture, being generally ornamented with beads 

 and bits of scarlet cloth, but it bears a very strong resemblance in its form to a 

 mummy-case. The infant is placed in this bag, having its lower extremities 

 wrapped up in soft sphagnum, or bog-moss, and may be hung up in the tent or 

 to the branch of a tree, without the least danger of tumbling out ; or, in a jour- 

 ney may be suspended on the mother's back by a band which crosses the fore- 

 head so as to leave her hands free. The sphagnum forms a soft elastic bed, 

 which absorbs moisture very readily, and affords such a protection from the 

 winter cold that its place would be ill supplied by any other material. 



