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CHAP. ornaments, wearing rings not only at their ears, but suspended at their noses. Their arms are generally encircled with bracelets of Silver and Brass. They used formerly bows and arrows, but since they have been acquainted with the Europeans, their warlike instruments are a musket, hatchet and knife. As they are frequently constrained to change place for the better convenience of fishing and hunting, they make canoes of the bark of trees, and to prevent their leaking, they cover the scams, where the bark is joined together, with gum or turpentine, extracted from pine Trees, to keep them tight. In these boats they make their excursions, and which easily carry their wives, children, dogs, skins and other covering necessary for their journeys.

THE Indian women perform all the drudgery. They collect fuel, cook, plant and hoe their Indian Corn, and carry their Infants on their backs. Every man has his own wife, whom he takes and forsakes at pleasure. The husband is a warrior and a hunter, who drinks, sings, and is waited on by his wife and children The Indian women are certainly as lascivious as the Europeans of the lower class, and it has been asserted by several Traders, who have the best opportunities of knowing the truth, that they seldom find the Indian women shy of their embraces. But that they very frequently destroy the Fœtus, to avoid reproach.

THEIR houses are nothing more than a few crotched stakes, covered over with bark, with a fire place in the centre, and an aperture at the top for the conveyance of the smoke. Whenever there are a number of these collected, they generally enclose the village with a pa

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lisade and rampart, and as they have no other fortifi- CHAP. cations, it affords an asylum merely for the old men, women, and children, while the rest are gone out to

war.

MAIZE or Indian Corn and Beans of Brazil, is the grain they consume. Fish, Venison, Bear's Flesh, Raccoons, Rabbits and wild Fowl, are the other chief arti cles of their food. They have scarce any pot herbs or other vegetables. Indian Corn, Meat and Fish, boiled together is the common cookery. Small Fish they broil on the coals, and the larger sort they bury in the Sand and roast under a fire with the scales on, and entrails; and then strip off the skin, when it is sufficiently dressed. We have never discovered any vessels that could have been used by the Indians before the European discovery, for culinary purposes. They must have boiled their broth as they some times do now, in wooden or bark bowls, heated with a repeated immersion of red hot

stones.

LITTLE can be said for the Indians, with regard to their cleanliness, indeed they are so extremely dirty, that the greatest disgust is naturally excited. And as they have no linnen to cover their tables, they frequently wipe their greasy hands upon their own hair, or on that of their dogs.

WITH respect to their language, it is very certain that the dialect of every nation differs, yet it is confidently asserted they have some ressemblance to each other, and that the language of the northern Indians is understood by the Mohawks.

CHAP. It is most unfortunate, that they never adopted the 1. European manner for the cure of their diseases. A sick Indian is first sweated in a hole dug for the purpose, covered and heated with hot stones, and in that condition, plunges into a river. This practice must generally be fatal to many. They have however discovered the medicinal virtues of some plants, and it is said, there are a few that attend to the cure of diseases.

No people on earth have higher ideas of military glory than the Indians, and as they frequently associate together to call to remembrance their wars and treaties, and to recite the military atchievements of their forefathers, a spirit of emulation is naturally excited in the breasts of their young men, who by this means are emulous of their fathers' virtues, and therefore easily led on to the most heroic actions.

THE government of these people is necessarily of the simplest kind. As they live by hunting, and not by agriculture, their riches consist less in abundance than in a freedom from want, and therefore they have nothing more than a regular police for the better preservation of harmony and good understanding. Their Chiefs decide all questions of peace and war, and have great authority among them. A Sachem, or Chief, is one who stands in high reputation for his wisdom, oratory and military exploits. He feels the weight given to his merit, and his advice has the effect of command. What all the Sachems prescribe, none durst disobey. But as their authority depends upon their fame, they clearly become the servants of all. The nation therefore, depends on them in what

concerns the whole body, as in making peace or war. CHAP. Differences are decided by them in time of peace, and 1. every man at variance with his neighbour, will court their approbation. These situations are, however, not hereditary, among the northern Indians, though the son readily acquires a tacit respect for the services done the Republic by his father.

HUNTING on their grounds without leave, robbery, and personal violence, are the motives to an Indian war. Before they set out on their expeditions, a feast on dog's flesh, is generally prepared, which is invariably followed by the war dance. Then the Chiefs recite the glorious atchievements of the forefathers of the young warriors, to excite their valour, after which they paint themselves with vermillion in the most frightful manner. The route they are to pursue is usually traced on a piece of the bark of a tree. The conduct of their wars is certainly not calculated to admit of their taking many prisoners, for instead of marching in strong parties, they often go out singly and surprise the foe, whom they kill and scalp. If the prisoners are unable to march, or dangerous by their numbers, they are destroyed. Such as are brought into a state of safety, they generally adopt and foster as their own children. They are almost universally brave, and meet death with heroic firmness. Intolerable contempt is the sure consequence of pusillanimity.

WHENEVER peace is desired by one of the parties at war, a Messenger is sent with a red pipe of marble, to which is affixed a gay plumage of the feathers of Birds, who presents it to the nation at war, and if the

CHAP. enemy smoke it, an Armistice immediately succeeds, which is surely followed by a general peace.

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WITH regard to Religion, it may be said with truth, that all the Indian nations are envelopped in the darkest gloom of ignorance. There have been some persons that have asserted that they had a Religion, but they have not informed us, wherein it consists. They have no Temples, no Altars nor Priests. Neither have they the smallest conception of the Diety, nor the least knowledge of his natural or moral perfections. And as they profess no obligations to him, they of course acknowledge no dependance on him. They have however, it is said, some wild notions of two Spirits, one capable of doing them good and the other ready to do them harm, the latter they pay most homage to. But on the whole we may conclude that they have not the smallest notions of a God, and melancholy indeed is the reflection, that millions of these unfortunate people on this extended continent, will be compelled by the immutable laws of nature to leave this transitory world, without experiencing those salutary and comfortable doctrines that flow from a knowledge of the religion of the Blessed Redeemer!!!

It will seem probable to Europeans at a distance, that as the whites encreased in Canada. that the natives retired to the inland regions. But this is far from being the case. The nations who first occupied the country, are almost totally extinct. They stuck by their ancient territory until they were overcome by the European vices, diseases, and by the sword. This attachment to their native districts, proves that they have an