REMARKS. 
247 
they possess in common with the brute crea¬ 
tion. The girls are covered with a loose gar¬ 
ment as soon as they have attained four or live 
years of age, but the boys go naked till they 
are considerably older. 
The Indians, as I have already remarked, 
are for the most part very slightly made, and 
from a survey of their persons, one would 
imagine that they were much better qualified 
for any pursuits that required much agility than 
great bodily strength. This has been the ge¬ 
neral opinion of most of those who have writ¬ 
ten on this subject. I am induced, however, 
from what I have myself been witness to, and 
from what I have collected from others, to 
think that the Indians are much more re¬ 
markable for their muscular strength than for 
their agility. At different military posts on 
the frontiers, where this subject lias been 
agitated, races, for the sake of experiment, 
have frequently been made between soldiers 
and Indians, and provided the distance was not 
great, the Indians have almost always been 
beaten ; but in a long race, where strength of 
muscle was required, they have without ex¬ 
ception been victorious; in leaping also the 
Indians have been infallibly beaten by such of 
the soldiers as possessed common activity: but 
the strength of the Indians is most conspicuous 
in the carrying of burthens on their backs ; 
s 
