The boys' book of Indian battles and adventures, with anecdotes about them
History
The boys' book of Indian battles and adventures, with anecdotes about them
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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