Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 03Champlain, Samuel de
History
Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 03
Champlain, Samuel de
America -- Discovery and exploration -- French; Indians of North America -- Canada; New France -- Discovery and exploration
Most of them paint the face black and red. These colors they mix with oil
made from the seed of the sun-flower, or with bear's fat or that of other
animals. They also dye their hair, which some wear long, others short,
others on one side only. The women and girls always wear their hair in one
uniform style. They are dressed like men, except that they always have
their robes girt about them, which extend down to the knee. They are not at
all ashamed to expose the body from the middle up and from the knees down,
unlike the men, the rest being always covered. They are loaded with
quantities of porcelain, in the shape of necklaces and chains, which they
arrange in the front of their robes and attach to their waists. They also
wear bracelets and ear-rings. They have their hair carefully combed, dyed,
and oiled. Thus they go to the dance, with a knot of their hair behind
bound up with eel-skin, which they use as a cord. Sometimes they put on
plates a foot square, covered with porcelain, which hang on the back. Thus
gaily dressed and habited, they delight to appear in the dance, to which
their fathers and mothers send them, forgetting nothing that they can
devise to embellish and set off their daughters. I can testify that I have
seen at dances a girl who had more than twelve pounds of porcelain on her
person, not including the other bagatelles with which they are loaded and
bedecked. In the illustration already cited, F shows the dress of the
women, G that of the girls attired for the dance.
All these people have a very jovial disposition, although there are many of
them who have a sad and gloomy look. Their bodies are well proportioned.
Some of the men and women are well formed, strong, and robust. There is a
moderate number of pleasing and pretty girls, in respect to figure, color,
and expression, all being in harmony. Their blood is but little
deteriorated, except when they are old. There are among these tribes
powerful women of extraordinary height. These have almost the entire care of
the house and work; namely, they till the land, plant the Indian corn, lay
up a store of wood for the winter, beat the hemp and spin it, making from
the thread fishing-nets and other useful things. The women harvest the
corn, house it, prepare it for eating, and attend to household matters.
Moreover they are expected to attend their husbands from place to place in
the fields, filling the office of pack-mule in carrying the baggage, and to
do a thousand other things. All the men do is to hunt for deer and other
animals, fish, make their cabins, and go to war. Having done these things,
they then go to other tribes with which they are acquainted to traffic and
make exchanges. On their return, they give themselves up to festivities and
dances, which they give to each other, and when these are over they go to
sleep, which they like to do best of all things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account