84 
AMERICANS. 
thrust out his eyes; and, lastly, after having burned his flesh from th^ 
bones with slow fires, and after having so mangled the body that it is 
all but one wound, after having mutilated his face in such a manner 
as to carry nothing human in it, after having peeled the skin from the 
head, and poured a heap of red-hot coals or boiling water on the 
naked skull, they once more unbind the wretch, who, blind and stag- 
gering with pain and weakness, assaulted and pelted on every side 
with clubs and stones, now up, now down, falling into their fires at 
every step, runs hither and thither, till one of the chiefs, either out, 
of compassion or weary of cruelty, puts an end to his life with a club 
or dagger ; the body is then put into a kettle, and this barbarous 
employment is succeeded by a feast as barbarous. 
The women, forgetting the human as well as the female nature, and 
transformed into worse than furies, even outdo the men in this scene 
of horror that has been described, while the principal persons of the 
country sit round the stake, smoking and looking on without the least 
emotion. What is most extraordinary, the sufferer himself, in the 
little interval of his torments, smokes too, appears unconcerned, and 
converses with his torturers about indifferent matters. Indeed, during 
the whole time of his execution, there seems a contest which shall 
exceed — they in inflicting the most horrid pains, or he in enduring 
them with a firmness and constancy almost above human. Not 
a groan, not a sigh, not a distortion of countenance, escapes him ; 
he possesses his mind entirely in the midst of his torments ; he 
recounts his exploits ; he informs them what cruelties he has 
inflicted upon their countrymen, and threatens them with the revenge 
that will attend his death ; and though his reproaches exasperate them 
to a perfect madness of rage and fury, he continues his insults, even 
of their ignorance of the art of tormenting ; and points out himself 
more exquisite methods, and more sensible parts of the body to be 
afflicted. 
The women have this part of courage as well as the men, and it 
is as rare for an Indian to be otherw ise, as it would for an European to 
suffer as an Indian. Such is the wonderful power of an early edu- 
cation, and a ferocious thirst of glory. “ I am brave and intrepid,” 
exclaims the savage in the face of his tormentors. “ 1 do not fear 
death nor any kind of tortures ; those who fear them are cowards, 
they are less than women ; life is nothing to those that have courage. 
May my enemies be confounded with despair and rage ! Oil I that I 
could devour them, and drink their blood to the last drop.” But 
neither the intrepidity on the one side, nor the inflexibility on the 
other, is among themselves matters of astonishment, for vengeance 
and fortitude in the midst of torment are duties which they consider 
as sacred; they are the effects of their earliest education, and depend 
upon principles instilled into them from their infancy. 
Wars. 
War, if we except hunting, is the only employment of the men ; as to 
every other concern, including even the little agriculture they practise, 
it is left to the women. Their most common motive for entering into 
war, when it does not arise from an accidental rencounter or inter- 
