bo 
low any trader to carry with him more 
than five gallons of New England rum, 
and even that must be presumed to be for 
his own use. 
Aun old Indian chief, who was in the 
fatal expedition with the Brush army, 
under General Braddock, when he be- 
sieged: Ticonderoga, and formed part of 
the detachment which General Washing- 
ton saved, dined with the American Fa- 
bius, at Mount Vernon, in Virginia: af- 
ter the repast, the savage hero indicated 
signs of disappointment, if not disgust. 
When the venerable general enquired, 
by the interpreter the cause of his cha- 
grin, the savage stood erect, and told his" 
illustrious host, that some years ago, 
when he was in the Indian castle, he, the 
savage, had offered him the embraces of his 
squaw: and that he was wonderfully sur- 
prised that the general had not returned 
this instance of civility, by a similar of- 
fer of Mrs. Washington. The general ex- 
cused himself, by averring that it was not 
the custom of his country. As Mrs. 
Washington, who was present, under- 
stood the tenor of the demand, she be- 
came much agitated with terror, which 
the Indian perceiving, he told her with 
manly dignity, that she had nothing to 
fear; asif the general had complied, he 
should only have walked up to her 
to signify his right to this sort of hos- 
pitable courtesey, and then bowing, have 
resigned her to her white chief. 
The Indians kill their prey in the woods, 
at the distance of many miles from 
their villages, and, whem they have shot 
a buck or buffalo, they return, and give 
an account of the affairs of the chace to 
their sguaws, who harness a large dog to 
arude sort of sleigh, or sledge, formed of 
the bark, or body of a tree, and find the 
prey, by the tracks on the grass: this they 
put into another sledge, which 1s fastened 
to their héads by a long rope, made of 
deer-skin and grass, and thus they draw 
it home. 
A general officer, of the United States 
~ informed me, that some Mohawsx chiefs 
being at Albany, a pedantic doctor, who 
dined with them at the same table, asked 
many impertinent questions, which at last 
irritated them so much that they request- 
ed him, by their interpreter, to ‘desist, 
and give the rest of the company some 
occasion to talk too. This gentleman in- 
formed me tbat they twist a bough around 
the neck, and, with the head enveloped 
in the leaves, crawl on their bellies to-re- 
gonnoitre an enemy’s camp. It appears 
shat their fidelity 2s not to be relicd on, 
On Men and Manners in North America. 
[Feb. 1, 
implicity, at. least during war, as their 
notions of free agency are nearly unli- 
mited. Duringthe revolutionary contest, 
it was a common event to have a number 
of the Indians, appertaining to General 
Burgoyne’s army, inthe camp of General 
Gates, and vice versa. 
Mr. Hallam, who is the father of the 
American stage, informed me, that seve- 
ral years since he was playing a tragedy, 
in the town of Alexandria, when several 
Indians of both sexes were in the boxes, 
and, in their simple way, thought the fic 
tion of the scene was a genuine efiusion 
of passion. It occurred in the course of 
the representation that two persons were 
theatrically murdered; and Mr. Henry, 
the actor, was going to stab a third victim, 
when a female Indian suddenly stood up,* 
and made signs to stop the performance: 
her explanation for this interruption was, 
that they had already slain enough to sa- 
tisfy her desire, and that she did not wish 
them to proceed any further: wildly ima- 
gining, that the whole affair was sangul- 
nary, aud that the heroes of the buskin 
were thus iminolated to gratify the preju- 
dices of her tribe, as a public compliment 
to their warlike character.’ 
Having a great desire to see an Indian 
squaw, 1 took an opportunity, while at 
Philadelphia, to indulge my curiosity. 1 
was introduced by a medical gentleman 
and the interpreter. Vhe lady was the 
wife of a chief of high character, belong-. 
ing to one of the Six Nations: we found 
her sitting, and in the act of spinning, 
which she performed by means of a thin 
stick pierced with pins, at the lower ex- 
tremity of which was a potatoe, which 
_ worked as a necessary weight in the 
operation. She was making garters for 
her husband, and I could not but ad- 
her dexterity, and the effectual 
“manner in which she conducted her rude 
machinery; she was rather tall than other- _ 
wise, and habited with the most rigorous 
delicacy; shehadashort, white jacket,and 
a blue petticoat. ‘Her hair, which was 
of araven hue, appeared nearly as thick in 
texture as a horse’s mane; it was combed 
neatly, and separated with such precision 
on her forehead, that it seemed as if\an 
equal proportion of hair decorated, each 
side: her complexion was of a copper 
cast, but somewhat lignter. I asked her 
as many questions as decent manners 
would allow, to all of which she gave 
prompt and keen replies. I observed 
that ic was 1iot in the force of Hattery to © 
make her forget the dignity of modesty. 
She had the mien of a Juno,andI am 
: persuaded, 
