MEMORY OF THE INDIANS. 249 
fail them till they are far advanced in years, 
notwithstanding that their eyes are exposed so 
many months each winter to the dazzling 
whiteness of the snow* and to the sharp irri¬ 
tating smoke of wood fires. Disorders in the 
eyes are almost wholly unknown to them; nor 
is the slightest blemish ever seen in their eyes, 
excepting it be a result from some accident. 
Their hearing is very acute,, and their sense of 
smelling so nice, that they can tell when they 
are approaching a fire long before it is in 
sight. 
The Indians have most retentive memories ; 
they will preserve to their deaths a recollection 
of any place they have once passed through; 
they never forget a face that they have atten¬ 
tively observed but for a few seconds ; at the 
end of many years they will repeat every sen¬ 
tence of the speeches that have been delivered 
by different individuals in a public assembly; 
and has any speech been made in the council 
house of the nation, particularly deserving of 
remembrance, it will be handed down with the 
utmost accuracy from one generation to an¬ 
other, though perfectly ignorant of the use of 
hieroglyphicks and letters; the only memorials 
of which they avail themselves are small pieces 
of wood, such as I told you were brought by 
them to Captain E-, preparatory to the 
delivery of the presents, and belts of wampum? 
