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Show Sis 106 DRESS OF THE SAUKIES AND FOXES. many wore brass necklaces and bracelets. The men, who were between thirty and forty in number, never appeared without their arms ; they carried tomahawks,* or else the common Indian club,f which has, at the upper end, a steel plate, sharp on both edges, and pointed. See Plate XLVIII., fig. 4. We did not see any bows and arrows among these Indians, because they had not come out on a warlike expedition, but on a festal visit; many of them had a kind of lance, made of a long sword blade, fastened to a pole, which was covered with red cloth, and ornamented with many black raven's or eagle's feathers, hanging down either in a long row, or in long bunches. (See the same plate, fig. 3.) These weapons they had always in their hand, and never laid them aside. The women, like those of Brazil, carried their bundles on their backs, with a leather strap passing over the forehead; they had their children with them, some of whom were in very convenient cradles. They all had very neat bast mats, ornamented with black figures, on which they slept, and some had, likewise, bear skins. Their travelling sacks, or bags, in which they had all their effects, were of the same material. The chief or leader of the Indians assembled here, was the Saukie chief, Kiokuck, a slender man, of the middle size, with agreeable features, not very different from those of an European, though of a darker colour. He wore a coloured calico shirt, and, on his breast, a large medal, which he had received from the President of the United States ; and likewise wore a figured handkerchief round his head, and was wrapped in a green blanket. He carried in his hand a calumet, ornamented with feathers. His face was not painted, his ears not disfigured, and it was affirmed that he was not of pure Indian origin. He wore brass rings round his neck and wrists. The dwelling-place of these Indians is on the western banks of the Mississippi, about Rock River and Rock Island, where the agent appointed for them by the government resides. In 1805 they sold, to the United States, their territory on the east of the Mississippi; still claiming a large tract of land, which extends from the upper Jowa River, along the west bank of the Mississippi, down to the river Des Moines, and further back to the Missouri. The Fox Indians call themselves Musquacki, or Mus-quack-ki-uck. They live sociably in villages, in permanent arched huts, and it is said that they can muster 1,600 warriors (according to Dr. Morse, however, only 800), and that they number about 5,000 souls. They plant maize, beans, gourds, &c. The men hunt, and work in their lead mines, which are very productive, so that, it is said, they have yielded 500,000 lbs. in one season. Their language has not a barbarous sound ; it has some nasals and gutturals ; the words are very frequently pronounced indistinctly, so that * An iron battle-axe, made by the whites, which has a pipe bowl at the back, the handle being bored through, to serve as tube to the pipe. f This instrument is the only weapon of the Indians which has lost something of its original character, since the merchants have had them manufactured with a steel point, as an article of trade with the Indians. A specimen of the original form is found in Pennant's " Arctic Zoology," Plate VI., the middle figure. |