[34] The following may serve to indicate the sort of impression of Christianity which even the most earnest and enlightened preaching has been able to make upon the Indian mind: "Here I saw a most singular union; one of the [Indian] graves was surmounted by a cross, while close to it a trunk of a tree was raised, covered with hieroglyphics, recording the number of enemies slain by the tenant of the tomb. Here presenting a hint to those who are fond of system-making on the religion of these people," &c.--_Beltrami's Pilgrimage, &c._, vol. ii., p. 307. Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., pp. 303-'4. Flint's _Geography_, pp. 109, 126. [35] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 281. [36] "To inflict blows that can not be returned," says this historian (Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 282), "is a proof of full success, and the entire humiliation of the enemy. It is, moreover, an experiment of courage and patience." But we think such things as much mere brutality, as triumph. [37] The frequent change of tense in this article, refers to those circumstances in which the _present_ differs from the _past_ character of the Indian. [38] "It is to be doubted, whether some part of this vaunted stoicism be not the result of a more than ordinary degree of physical insensibility."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p. 114. [39] Many white men, however, have endured the utmost extremities of Indian cruelty. See cases of Brebeuf, and Lallemand, in _Bancroft_, vol. iii., p. 140. [40] "It is intellectual culture which contributes most to diversify the features."--_Humboldt's Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 228. [41] "They have probably as much curiosity [as the white], but a more stern perseverance in repressing it."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p. 124. [42] "The enemy is assailed with treachery, and, if conquered, treated with revolting cruelty." * * "A fiendish ferocity assumes full sway."--_Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 206. [43] It is perhaps not very remarkable, however, that the women are most cruel to the aged and infirm--the young and vigorous being sometimes adopted by them, to console them for the loss of those who have fallen.--_Idem_, p. 210. [44] "We consider them a treacherous people, easily swayed from their purpose, paying their court to the divinity of good fortune, and always ready to side with the strongest. We should not rely upon their feelings of to-day, as any pledge for what they will be to-morrow."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p. 120. [45] "_Geography of the Mississippi Valley_," vol. i., p. 121. [46] "The Indians are immoderately fond of play."--_Warburton_, vol. i., p. 218. [47] These used cards; but they have, among themselves, numerous games of chance, older than the discovery of the continent.