OCR Text |
Show 104 SAUKIE AND FOX INDIANS. ?¦£ a '¦ tliose parts of their bodies which are clothed, than on those which are exposed to the air and sun. Pike, and some other travellers, pretend to have found the Mongol physiognomy among the North American Indians, especially the Pawnees and the Sioux; but I can affirm that I met with no such physiognomy, though I saw a few instances of it in Brazil. Mr. Von Humboldt very justly observes, on this head, that not merely the bodily conformation, but likewise the mode of living, of the two races, are entirely different. The great contrast between the American and Mongol races is immediately apparent, when we consider that the former have no breed of cattle, and do not subsist on milk, without which the latter cannot live.* The Tartar features, which are very handsome, did not occur to me in North America. Warden, in his work on American antiquities, f gives a drawing of a vessel found near the river Cany, which is adorned with three human heads. These heads have not the Tartar physiognomy, as the author believes, but precisely that of the North American Indians. From this digression on the general conformation of the North Americans, we return to our narrative. The Saukies and Foxes had shaved their hair off the whole head except a small tuft behind, the greater part of which was cut short, like a brush, and which terminated in a thin braid, to which was fastened the chief ornament of the head, the deer's tail, which is a tuft of hair from the tail of the Virginian stag, white, with some black hair, the white part being dyed red with vermilion. J It is fastened in an ingenious manner, with some strings and pegs of wood, to the tuft of hair at the back of the head; and in the middle of it, concealed between the hair, is a small piece of carved wood, to which a small bone box is affixed, into which a large eagle's feather is fastened, projecting horizontally behind ; this feather is often dyed with vermilion, and is the characteristic distinction of a brave warrior. He who has become renowned for horse-stealing, which, according to their notions, is a heroic exploit, fastens to the tip of this feather the rattle of a rattlesnake. The whole deer's tail, when it is not worn, is rolled up in the form of a thick ball, fastened with leather straps, and kept in this manner, that the hair may remain smooth, and in the proper position. Mr. Bodmer took an admirable likeness of Watapinat (eagle's nest), a handsome Fox Indian, wearing this head-dress. (Plate III.) The North Americans pluck out their eyebrows, beard, &c, like the Brazilians, and, at present, employ in this operation a spiral wire, between the windings of which they take hold of the hair. These nations adorn their ears in a very original manner; three large holes, one above the other, are made at the outer rim, in which short strings of blue and white wampum shells § are hung, like tassels. Some of the men had even cut through * Loc. cit., vol. i. p. 3. j- Warden, Loc. cit., part ii. plate x. fig. 4. + The Foxes call this ornament kateiiikunn. I have given a figure of it, in the Plate of utensils and arms. § These small shell cylinders are known to be cut out of the shells of the Venus mercenaria, and strung on threads; they are arranged blue and white alternately. All the northern and eastern nations, in the neighbourhood of the great |