Anecdotes of the American Indians, illustrating their eccentricities of character
History
Anecdotes of the American Indians, illustrating their eccentricities of character
Indians of North America -- Anecdotes
But it is upon his skin that the American warrior chiefly lavishes his
powers of embellishment. His taste in doing so is very different from
ours. “While the European,” says Creuxius, “studies to keep his skin
clean, and free from every extraneous substance, the Indian’s aim is,
that his, by the accumulation of oil, grease, and paint, may shine like
that of a roasted pig.” Soot scraped from the bottoms of kettles, the
juices of herbs, having a green, yellow, and, above all, a vermilion
tint, rendered adhesive by combination with oil and grease, are
lavishly employed to adorn his person, or, according to our idea, to
render it hideous. Black and red, alternating with each other in varied
stripes, are the favourite tints. Some blacken the face, leaving in
the middle a red circle, including the upper lip and tip of the nose;
others have a red spot on each ear, or one eye black and the other of
a red colour. In war the black tint is profusely laid on, the others
being only employed to heighten its effect, and give to the countenance
a terrific expression. M. de Tracy, when governor of Canada, was told
by his Indian allies, that, with his good-humoured face, he would never
inspire the enemy with any degree of awe. They besought him to place
himself under their brush, when they would soon make him such that his
very aspect would strike terror. The breast, arms, and legs are the
seat of more permanent impressions, analogous to the tattooing of the
South Sea Islanders. The colours are either elaborately rubbed in, or
fixed by slight incisions with needles and sharp-pointed bones. His
guardian spirit, and the animal that forms the symbol of his tribe, are
the first objects delineated. After this, every memorable exploit, and
particularly the enemies whom he has slain and scalped, are diligently
graven on some part of his figure; so that the body of an aged warrior
contains the history of his life.
INDIAN HUNTING.
It is a mistake to suppose that hunting is pursued by the Indian merely
as a means of subsistence. It is also his favourite sport; and no
English gentleman who spends his thousands of pounds per annum on his
horses and hounds, follows the sports of the field with a keener zest,
than the wild Indian who has never beheld the face of a white man. The
accounts of Catlin, who spent much time among the wildest tribes, show,
that amusement, in its most liberal sense, is pursued by the Indians in
this way. Hunting is not drudgery to them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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