JOURNAL. 
253: 
.,e<3 round the waist with a broad zone, highly ornamented with 
porcupine quills, and beads. They are no better off than were 
the Greeks and Romans, in what we deem at present so essen¬ 
tial, but like them, they bathe themselves regularly, twice a day. 
The women are much fairer than the men; some might be con¬ 
sidered handsome any where—they are much more nume¬ 
rous than the men, the consequence of the wars in which the 
nation is constantly engaged. Polygamy is general, they have 
often four or five wives. Their courtship and marriage resem¬ 
ble that of most Indian nations: if the parties are mutually 
agreeable to each other, there is a consultation of the family, if 
this be also favorable, the father of the girl, or whoever gives 
her in marriage,makes a return for the present he had previous¬ 
ly received from the lover—the match is then concluded 
They display considerable ingenuity of taste in their works 
of art: this observation applies to all the American nations, from 
the Mexicans to the most savage. Their arms, household uten¬ 
sils, and their dresses, are admirably made. I saw a gun which 
had been completely stocked by an Indian. A curious instance 
of native ingenuity which came under my notice, ought not to b$ 
omitted. I was told one day, of an old Indian who was making 
a blanket; I immediately went to see him. To my surprise, I 
found an old man, perfectly blind, seated on a stool before a kind 
of frame, over which were drawn coarse threads, or rather 
tv/ists of buffaloe wool, mixed with wolf’s hair; he had already 
made about a quarter of a yard of a very coarse rough cloth.— 
He told me that it was the first he had attempted, and that it was 
in consequence of a dream, in which he thought he had made a 
blanket like those of the white people. Here are the rudiments 
jef weaving. They make beautiful jugs or baskets with osier, 
so close as to hold water. 
I observed some very old men amongst them—the country 
is so extremely healthy, that they arrive to a very great age.— 
About twenty years ago, the small pox destroyed a great num¬ 
ber of them. One day, in passing through the village, I saw 
something brought out of a lodge in a buffaloe robe, and expos¬ 
ed to the sun; on approaching, I discovered it to be a human 
being, but so shrivelled up* that h had nearly lost the human 
