The catalogue of the diseases, of both children and adults, probably bears a similar proportion to that of the white people, and is far less extensive and appalling. The summer complaint, so destructive to children in our region, appears to be uncommon with the Omawhaw infants; but, during their first year, they suffer more from constipation of the bowels {217} than from any other complaint, but which is occasionally remedied by passing a small piece of soap (which is obtained from the traders,) cut into the proper shape, into the rectum. Dentition seems to be productive of no great distress; the gums are never cut, but the teeth are permitted to force their way through. The shedding of the teeth is also accomplished without much difficulty; the milk-teeth, being forced out by the permanent ones, either fall from the mouth, or are gently extracted by the fingers of the parent. Monstrous births sometimes occur, though rarely; and it is not known that infants are ever destroyed by their parents in consequence of deformity, unless the degree of malformation is excessive. The Indians mention two monsters which were born in their village; one of these they represent as resembling a white bear, and the other a cray-fish; they were both destroyed. The husband of the squaw, who gave birth to the former, said that she must have had connection with a white bear; but she asserted that the production of the monster was occasioned by a fright, which she received at seeing her husband suddenly, whilst he was personating that animal both in dress and gesture. The magi affect to converse with the fœtus in utero, when the mother perceives it to be uneasy; they also sometimes venture to predict its sex. Abortion is effected, agreeably to the assertions of the squaws, by blows with the clenched hand, applied upon the abdomen, or by repeated and violent pressure upon that part, or by rolling on the stump of a tree, or other hard body. The pregnant squaw is induced thus to procure abortion, in consequence of the jealousy of her husband, or in order to conceal her illicit amours, to which all the married squaws, with but few exceptions, are addicted. The infant, when recently born, is of a reddish-brown colour; but in a short time it becomes whitish, {218} though never so pure a white as that of the children of white people. The change to the national complexion is then gradual, and independent of exposure; inasmuch as those parts of their bodies, which are perpetually concealed from the light, change simultaneously with the face. The abdomen of the children protrudes very considerably; and the sole article of dress, which the younger boys wear during the warm season, is a small belt of cloth around the middle of the abdomen, leaving every other part of the body perfectly naked. In wintry weather they have the addition of leggings, mockasins, and a small robe.