1810 they had 19,500 head of cattle, 6100 horses, 19,600 BOOK hogs, 1037 sheep, about 500 ploughs, 30 waggons, 1600 spin- LXXXI. ning wheels, 467 looms, 13 grist mills, 3 saw mills, 3 saltpetre works, 1 powder mill, 49 smiths. Like the whites, they commit the heavier labours of agriculture to their negro slaves. Men, women, and children, are addicted to the use of the bath, and are remarkably clean and neat in their persons. A young Cherokee woman refused an American suitor on the ground that he was not clean in his appearance. The practice of ablution, though formerly a religious rite, is now valued merely for its salutary effects on the body. A Missionary school was planted among this people in 1804, at which some hundreds of young Cherokees have received the rudiments of education. The Catawba tribe, who live near the Cherokees, mustered 1500 warriors when the whites first settled in their neighbourhood, but have now only 60. In Louisiana are the Houmas, Opelousas, Atakapas, Tunicas, Conchatas, Alabamas, Apalaches, Pacamas, Pascagoulas, and other tribes, who were formerly numerous, but are now reduced to a feeble remnant, some of them not mustering more than a dozen of warriors, and few of them having more than 100.

Of the Indians who live in the country watered by the Missouri, the Osages are one of the most powerful nations. They live chiefly near the Osage River, and when Pike visited them, had 1252 warriors, and a total population of 4019. They have made some progress in agriculture; they cultivate maize, beans, and pumpkins, and have a fine race of horses and mules. The Kansas, who live on the river of the same name, have 465 warriors according to Pike, and raise corn, beans, and pumpkins. The Ottoes on the Platte river, are reduced to 60 warriors; and of the Missouris, who once counted their warriors by thousands, only a remnant of thirty families exist. The Mahas, 800 in number, who live on the Maha creek, lost two-thirds of their population by the small-pox in 1802. The Pawnees, or Panis, divided into four tribes, include 1993 warriors, and 6223 souls. Higher

BOOK up, live the Ricaras, 3000 in number; the Mandans 2000; LXXXI. the Minitarees 2000; and the Quehatsas 3560, who have their

residence near the springs of the Yellowstone river, at the Rocky mountains. Farther up are the Snake Indians, in number 8200; the Chiens 1250; the Towas 1400; the Kites and Kiawas 3000; the Utahs and Tetaws 7000; the Mamekas and Apeches 15,000; the Kaninaviesch, Castahamas, and Katahas 6500; and the Blackfeet Indians 5000. Most of these tribes wander between the sources of the Missouri and its branches, and the frontiers of Mexico. They live chiefly by hunting, and are partially supplied with fire-arms; but many of them raise maize, beans, and melons, pumpkins, and some tobacco. The tribes situated near the Missouri carry on a considerable trade with the whites, exchanging their peltries and skins for cloth, iron articles, powder, and fire-arms.

Persons, There is a great diversity of language among these nudress, and ornaments. merous tribes, and they are farther distinguished by their habits, manners, superstitions, and their implacable rancour and hostility against each other. In one respect, however, there is a general resemblance; like the Arabs, they wander from place to place over extensive tracts of country, which they claim by traditionary title or conquest. Some few of them have huts or permanent lodges; but these they often abandon to hunt the buffalo, the flesh of which affords them nourishment, as the skin does clothing. This rude and independent mode of life has so many attractions, that it is with difficulty renounced by those who have experienced the advantages of civilization. The complexion of all the Indians is of a copper colour, but lighter in some than in others. In general, their hair and eyes are black. The warriors are well proportioned, strong, and active, and have an air of dignity in their looks and gestures. Many of their young females have fine eycs, teeth, and hair, and regular features, with an agreeable expression; but owing to their wandering and laborious life, the growth of the body is checked before the usual period of maturity.

Hence they are generally of low stature, and ungraceful BOOK in form, with high cheek bones, projecting eyes, and flat LXXXI. bosoms. In the mountainous districts, however, the women are less emaciated, of a lighter complexion, and more interesting. Several of the nations live almost naked; but of those who are clothed, the principal articles of dress are three. A buffalo robe is attached to the shoulders, and hangs down loosely; a piece of skin, in the form of an apron, covers the waist or middle; and a sort of rudely formed boots, called mocassins, are worn on the legs. The women wear a cloak like that of the men, and under it a petticoat, or robe of the skin of the elk or antelope fastened to the waist by a girdle, and reaching to the knees. The tribes, however, who trade with the whites, often substitute coverings of woollen cloth, linen, or blankets, for skins, or wear them under their skin robes in cold weather. The chiefs fasten feathers to their heads, and distinguish themselves, especially on days of state and ceremony, by showy vestments, and by various rude ornaments. Blue beads are worn on the neck, legs, and arms, and are highly valued by both sexes. They paint their faces red and black, which they consider highly ornamental. They paint themselves also when they go to war; but the method they make use of on this occasion differs from that which they employ merely for decoration. Some tribes bore their noses, and wear in them pendants of different sorts; and others slit their ears, and load the rim with brass wire, which drags it down almost to the shoulder.

The cabins of the Indians, though rudely constructed, Houses. are warm and comfortable. Those of the Sioux, of a circular form, and thirty or forty feet in diameter, are constructed of forked pieces of timber, six feet in length, placed in the ground, at small distances from each other, in a vertical position, supported by others in a slanting direction. Four taller beams placed in the middle, serve as a support to the poles or rafters, which are covered with willow branches, interwoven with grass, and overlaid with

BOOK grass or clay. The door, or entrance, is four feet wide, LXXXI. before which there is a sort of portico. A hole in the

Government.

middle of the roof serves for the escape of smoke, and the admission of light. The beds and seats are formed of the skins of different animals. A platform raised three feet from the floor, and covered with the hairy skin of a bear, is reserved for the reception of guests. In other cases, the lodge is formed by a few poles meeting in the figure of a roof, and covered with rush mats or buffalo hides. It is taken asunder when they shift their residence, and carried by dogs to their new abode. The village, consisting of a number of such huts irregularly disposed, is enclosed by a palisade of wood; but the Ricaras and some other tribes formerly protected their villages by a wall four feet high.

It may be remarked, that the Indians to the eastward of the Mississippi seldom make use of horses in travelling, hunting, or in war; while those to the westward of that river, employ them on all these occasions. This difference of custom is owing chiefly to the different state of the country, which, on the western side, consists of extensive open plains, while the eastern is broken, hilly, and covered with forests.

All the different nations are under the government of a chief and council, who are generally elected to office on account of their military talents, wisdom, and experience, though much art and dissimulation is sometimes employed to gain suffrages. These appoint municipal affairs who take charge of the peace of the villages. Their authority, however, is but limited; for as every Indian has a high opinion of his own consequence, and is extremely tenacious of his liberty, he instantly rejects with scorn every injunction that has the appearance of a command.

The object of government among them is rather foreign than domestic, for their attention seems more to be employed in preserving such a union among the members of their tribe as will enable them to watch the motions of their enemies, and to act against them with concert and

vigour, than to maintain interior order by any public re- BOOK gulations. If a scheme that appears to be of service to LXXXI. the community is proposed by the chief, every one is at liberty to choose whether he will assist in carrying it on; for they have no compulsory laws that lay them under any restrictions. If violence is committed, or blood is shed, the right of revenging these misdemeanors is left to the family of the injured: the chiefs assume neither the power of inflicting nor of moderating the punishment. In their councils every affair of consequence is debated; and no enterprise of the least moment undertaken, unless it meets with the general approbation of the chiefs. They commonly assemble in a hut or tent appropriated to this purpose, and being seated in a circle on the ground, the eldest chief rises and makes a speech; when he has concluded, another gets up; and thus they all speak, if necessary, by turns. On this occasion their language is nervous, and their manner of expression emphatical. Their style is adorned with images, comparisons, and strong metaphors, and is equal in allegories to that of any of the eastern nations. In all their set speeches they express themselves with much vehemence, but in common discourse according to our usual method of speech. The young men are suffered to be present at the councils, though they are not allowed to make a speech till they are regularly admitted; they, however, listen with great attention, and to show that they both understand and approve of the resolutions taken by the assembled chiefs, they frequently exclaim, "That is right," "That is good."*

The women are condemned to all the drudgery of do- Women. mestic life, and the labour of cultivating maize and esculent roots devolves upon them. They prepare and tan the skins of animals for clothing; join in the chase, and on their shoulders carry their children, with large pieces of the flesh of the buffalo. The wife of the chief, Little Raven, brought at once sixty pounds weight of dried

*Carver's Travels, chap. V.