tutes, although the whole must be eaten, whatever time it may require. At some of these entertainments there is a more rational arrangement, when the guests are allowed to carry home with them the superfluous part of their portions. Public feasts have always been in use to some extent, for the celebration of funerals; annually, in honor of the dead; in honor of the hunter's medicine or charm, and other religious occasions; but in modern times they are less attended to than formerly.

Among the Lake Indians, Mr. Tanner states that the Feast with the Dead,' is eaten at the graves of deceased friends. They kindle a fire; and each person, before he begins to eat, cuts off a small piece of meat, which he casts into the flame, as a sacrifice to some spirit whose favor they wish to conciliate. They have also feasts made after dreaming something remarkable, called Dream-Feasts;' Feasts for giving names to children, when the guests are expected to eat every thing set before them; "War-Feasts,' which we may refer to again; and various other festivities, too numerous to be described, and scarcely of consequence enough to deserve mention.

CHAPTER II.

Anecdotes of Indian WARFARE-Indian ideas of war-Occasions and modes of commencing it-War-songs-Ceremonies observed by young warriors-Stratagems used in warScalping-War-whoops '-Anecdotes of Southern warsTorture of prisoners-Running the gantlet-Anecdotes of whites captured by the Indians-Of their mode of fighting the whites-Of skirmishes on the frontiers.

A passion for warlike glory is the strongest by which the American savage is distinguished. From his earliest infancy he is taught to regard, as the highest object of his existence, the conquest of his foe in the forest, and the triumph of bringing home with him that precious trophy, the scalp.

Under these circumstances, it is not to be supposed that pretexts for waging war will be wanting, especially since it is also a sacred maxim among all the tribes to revenge every insult or injury, at whatever cost. It often occurs, indeed, that a scalping-party is fitted out against a neighboring tribe, under the direction of one or more principal warriors, anxious to acquire reputation or to retaliate for some private indignity, but at the same time unable to procure the assent of their nation to a

general war. This happens, usually, between nations which have so long been hostile to each other that they think it unnecessary to go through with the ceremony of declaring war.

The ceremonies which precede the setting out of a war-party differ much, in the case of different nations; and also, among the same nation, in the case of the different kinds of expeditions. Whether the party be a private one, collected by the influence of some eminent warchief, or an expedition authorised by the whole tribe, it is preceded by a council of war, by fasting and dancing, and sometimes by a sacrifice. The ancient custom of leaving a war-club in the territory of the enemy, as a manifesto, is not now observed. The fasting is often, carried to such a length, as to weaken the warrior on his march even more than his fatigue. The war-song, as the party march out from their own village, is never forgotten. Of this there are many varieties. It commonly amounts to what Mr. Heckewelder gives as the translation of the song of the Delawares:

O poor me!

Who am going out to fight the enemy,

And know not whether I shall return again,

To enjoy the embraces of my children

And my wife.

O poor creature!

Whose life is not in his own hands,

Who has no power over his own body
But tries to do his duty

For the welfare of his nation.

O thou Great Spirit above!

Take pity on my children,

And on my wife!

Prevent their mourning on my account!

Grant that I may be successful in this attempt

That I may slay my enemy,

And bring home the trophies of war

To my dear family and friends,

That we may rejoice together.

O take pity on me!

Give me strength and courage to meet my enemy;

Suffer me to return again to my children,

To my wife

And to my relations!

Take pity on me and preserve my life,

And I will make to thee a sacrifice.

Mr. Schoolcraft, in his Travels, has the following translation of a Chippewa war-song, addressed to the women of the tribe, who are always left at home.

Do not do not weep for me,
Loved woman, should I die,-

For yourselves alone, should you weep.
Poor are ye all, and to be pitied.

Ye women! ye are to be pitied!

I seek-I seek our fallen relations ;
I go to revenge-revenge the slain;
Our relations, fallen and slain.

And our foes-our foes, they shall lie
Like them-like them they shall lie:

I go I go, to lay them low-to lay them low!
Do not do not, &c.

In these songs it is customary for each warrior to sing an independent verse, which is complete in itself, consisting of one or two lines, with the same words often repeated and transposed. The most precise time is kept, and when the number of syllables in a word or line is not sufficient to complete the measure, short interjections as he-ha-heh &c. are uttered to supply the deficiency.

Every thing being made ready for the expedition-the council held-the dance performed -the fasting observed-and, in a word, that courage, which is the main object of the ceremonies, worked up to the highest point-the party commences its march for the enemy's country. But the young warrior's penance is not yet over. For the first three times that he accompanies a war-party, he is obliged by custom to paint his face black; to wear a cap or head-dress of some kind; and to follow the older warriors, walking in their tracks instead of preceding them. He must never scratch his head with his fingers, nor suffer any other