They had acquired some knowledge respecting the virtues of roots, barks and herbs. Professional improvements have, in a great degree, superseded their use. A blister was raised by burning punk upon the skin. A soft poultice of roots boiled was used to remove inflammations. Fevers were cured by sweating in a covered hut with the steam of water poured on heated stones. This was succeeded by plunging into cold water. Cures were pretended to be effected by certain mystical ceremonies, remedies depending more on credulity than medicinal efficacy. Their skill in preventing the power of poison and the bite of venomous serpents from taking effect has not been communicated to the world in a degree by which we can avail ourselves of much advantage from it. They treat it as a mystery. Their own security and relief, however, prove the existence of the art itself. It is to be lamented, that, among the good things we have transferred from the savages, we have likewise propagated their faults. Many of their superstitious notions have been adopted by the white people, with a docility worthy of a good cause. The minds of our enlightened countrymen have not yet become free from the belief, that lonely mountains and deep caverns, deserted houses and burying grounds are still the abodes of departed spirits and imaginary beings. Charms and spells, witchcraft and divination have believers still in vulgar minds. Apparitions still make their appearance; and those are not without apprehensions from the agency of invisible beings, who have courage enough not to tremble in the field of battle. These notions of ideal beings may have been first imported with our ancestral emigrants from England, Ireland and Germany, where they abound; but they have been greatly increased by a knowledge of those which pre vail among the Aborigines of this country. Pagans were always prone to adopt similar opinions; but christians, who entertain suitable sentiments of God's perfections and universal agency, will never believe, that the management of the universe is abandoned to the control, or can need the intervention, of subordinate agents from the invisible regions. This view of the arts and the state of improvement among the Indian tribes will give us a very humble opinion of their national power and personal comforts. Their means of enjoyment were also as precarious as they were limited. Any great attainments in knowledge were impossible in such a state of society; and more information would have made them sensible of their deficiencies. The ignorance which concealed from their view higher improvements and greater comforts, proved a blessing to them by riveting their grateful attention to the few mercies they actually possessed. The body can be sustained with a a little, and the mind also can learn to be content. N2 CHAPTER XXVI. Their education milita- War the great pursuit of savages. tary. Enter on war with deliberation. women. Rites of the order of Huskanaw. Weapons of war few. Stake. Lance. Bows and arrows. Scalping knife. Tomahawk. Modern arms. Indian armory. Ingenious devices. Military appearance. Officers. The best mode of waging war against them. Their mode. Customs in war. Their return home. Treatment of cap. tives. Torture. A specimen of their death song. IN a savage state, war and hunting are the great objects of pursuit. The arts of peace are few and imperfect, nor are those who cultivate them held in very high estimation. The aged, the women and children attend to whatever is done in the business of agriculture. The warrior would deem the labor of digging in the earth and toiling in the dust beneath his dignity. Of commerce they have nothing deserving the name; of science they never heard; and the arts receive the least possible attention from them. Hunting is the business of the men, and is of course accounted honorable. it is war which engages the whole soul of the savage. the element in which all his powers are active; the vital air in which life acts with the greatest vigor. In the lap of peace he is all rest and indolence; but in war, he is all action, enterprise and fury. But It is In the civilized life, education principally consists in polishing the manners, pouring instructions into the youthfu! mind,exhibiting moral principles and strengthening the sense of duty with religious motives. But with the savages, these are not even objects of education. He is taught how to make war, how to surprise an enemy, how to treat a captive and how to secure victory. The worst passions are encouraged not suppressed. The mind is not enlightened but the body is habituated to wield the weapons of destruction with the most fatal effect. In entering upon a war, they proceed with great deliberation. A council of the chiefs is called; a great fire is made, round which they assemble; and a principal sachem addresses the rest on the subjects, which called them together. When war is the result of their deliberations, a chief marches round in a circle inviting those who are for war to join in the circuitous march, while a war song serves to rouse their patriotic zeal to the highest pitch, till the whole assembly, kindling into the same ardor, becomes impatient to be led against the enemy. Feasts are sometimes prepared, when each one, cutting off a piece of roasted animal, as he eats, exclaims, thus will I devour my enemies." In these warlike measures, the women do not usually join being, in all countries, agreeably to the gdntleness of their natures, the advocates of peace. It is otherwise in some of the more northern nations, where women possess vast influence in their councils, become the conductors of their tribes, and by sending presents of wampum to the more influential warriors, who are not deemed sufficiently eager for war, generally secure them in their interest, until they collect the elements for the storm of war. In order to excite this warlike spirit, the Indians in Virginia established a kind of military order of nobility, which they called Huskanaw." The rites of initiation were rigid, and sometimes dangerous; but were deemed necessary for all who expected to arrive at any high offices in the gift of their countrymen. The candidates for admission into the order were taken away to a retired place, where they continued for about 20 days. A poisonous juice expressed from a plant was given them to drink, the qualities of which, like the Lethean waters, made them forget their former prejudices, attachments and habits, in order that pure reason might act with freedom from the improper bias of early education. On a return to their tribes, they were received with every mark of pre-eminence and respect, as persons of a higher order. If they manifested a recollection of events previous to initiation, they had to go through the same rites again with redoubled severity, which always produced a temporary delerium, and often a loss of life. The survivor, however, always shared in the highest employments and in the most distinguished honors of his nation. Their weapons of war are very few. Their war-clubs was formed out of a root, or limb of a tree, made into a convenient shape, with a knot at one end, of use in case of a close engagement with an enemy. A stake, hardened in the fire at one end, was used as a sort of spontoon, useful in destroying an enemy, or keeping him at a little distance. Their lance was pointed with a flint, or a bone, and annoyed the attacked with less danger to the assailants. Their bows were made of strong and elastic wood, and like that of Ulysses, would often require no feeble arm to bend them. Their arrows were armed with heads of flint stone, wrought to a point which did execution in silence and at no inconsiderable distance. This was one of their most effective instruments both of defense and assault. Since their acquaintance with Europeans, they have been furnished with more formidable weapons. Their scalping knife which has excited so much horror in the minds of their enemies, is now made of iron, and suspended in a sheath by a string to the neck. The tomahawk is an instrument of great importance to them. It is shaped like a hatchet, with a long handle. The head is fitted for knocking down their opposers; the edge is on the other side; and, where the handle pierces the head, another point projects forward, of considerable length, with which they thrust as with a spear. The tomahawk is ornamented with painting and feathers in such a manner as to be significant, like the pipe of peace, on which in hieroglyphics is kept a journal of their marches and important occurrences. When they contemplate war, the tomahawk is colored with red. If war be declared, the same weapon, with a string of wampum, is sent to such other tribe as they wish to engage in the war. It is thrown on the ground, and, if taken up by an expert warrior, it is considered as a sign that they join in carrying on the contest. In their late combats, their weapons of war are the tomahawk, the scalping knife and the firelock. In the use of these, no men are more dexterous. On Long-Island, has lately been found a large quantity of stones, of a peculiar figure, and to the amount of some tons. They were used, no doubt, as weapons of war, and were a species of spear heads. Such vast multitudes of a similar size and shape point out the spot where they were deposited as the site of one of their ancient armories. They use many ingenious expedients to communicate their ideas to their absent friends. By erecting a pole and marking its shadow on the sand or pointing it so as to cast no shadow they are able to inform their followers, at what time of the day they were in such a place, and by lopping down a few bushes they clearly intimate which way they are gone. By a few rude images |