LITMIR.BIZ

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fact. If a female, a comb or scissors is hung on the frame. In this condition it is placed in the hands of an old woman, who bears it about in the scalp-dance, while opprobrious epithets are uttered against the tribe from which it was taken. Amidst these wild rejoicings the war-cry is vociferated, and the general sentiment with old and young is: 'Thus shall it be done to our enemies.'

      "The feather of the eagle is the highest honour that a warrior can wear, and a very extravagant sum is sometimes given to procure one. The value of a horse has been known to be paid. The mode in which a feather is to be cut and worn is important to be noticed.

      "The scale of honour with the several tribes may vary, but the essential features are the same. Among the Dakota tribes an eagle's feather with a red spot denotes that the wearer has killed an enemy, a notch cut in it and edges of the feather painted red indicates that the throat of an enemy has been cut. Small consecutive notches on the front side of the feather, without paint, denote that the wearer is the third person that has touched the dead body; both edges notched, that he is the fourth person who has touched it; and the feather partly denuded that he is the fifth person that has touched the slain.

      "On the blanket or buffalo robe worn by the Dakota Indian a red or black hand is often seen painted. The red hand indicates that the wearer has been wounded by his enemy, the black hand that he has slain his enemy.

      "The warlike tribe of the Chippeways, on the sources of the Mississippi, who, from a national act in their history, bear the distinctive name of Pillagers, award a successful warrior who shoots down and scalps his enemy three feathers; and for the still more dangerous act of taking a wounded prisoner on the field, five—for they conceive that a wounded enemy is desperate, and will generally reserve his fire for a last act of vengeance, if he die the moment after. Those of the war-party who come up immediately and strike the enemy, so as to get marks of blood on their weapons, receive two feathers; for it is customary for as many as can to perform this act.... Those who have been of the war-party, and merely see the fight, although they may have no blood-marks of which to boast as honours, and may even have lacked promptness in following the leader closely, are yet allowed to mount one feather. These honours are publicly awarded; no one dares to assume them without authority, and there are instances where the feathers falsely assumed have been pulled violently from their heads in a public assemblage of the Indians. They never, however, blame each other for personal acts denoting cowardice or any species of timidity while on the war-path, hoping by this elevated course to encourage the young men to do better on another occasion.

      "All war-parties consist of volunteers. The leader, or war-captain, who attempts to raise one must have some reputation to start on. His appeals, at the assemblages for dancing the preliminary war-dance, are to the principles of bravery and nationality. They are brief and to the point. He is careful to be thought to act under the guidance of the Great Spirit, of whose secret will he affects to be apprised in dreams, or by some rites.

      "The principle of enlistment is sufficiently well preserved. For this purpose, the leader who proposes to raise the war-party takes the war-club in his hands, smeared with vermilion, to symbolize blood, and begins his war-song. I have witnessed several such scenes. The songs are brief, wild repetitions of sentiments of heroic deeds, or incitements to patriotic or military ardour. They are accompanied by the drum and rattle, and by the voice of one or more choristers. They are repeated slowly, sententiously, and with a measured cadence, to which the most exact time is kept. The warrior stamps the ground as if he could shake the universe. His language is often highly figurative, and he deals with the machinery of the clouds, the flight of carnivorous birds, and the influence of spiritual agencies, as if the region of space were at his command. He imagines his voice to be heard in the clouds; and while he stamps the ground with well-feigned fury, he fancies himself to take hold of the 'circle of the sky' with his hands. Every few moments he stops abruptly in his circular path, and utters the piercing war-cry.

      "He must be a cold listener who can sit unmoved by these appeals. The ideas thrown out succeed each other with the impetuosity of a torrent. They are suggestive of heroic frames of mind, of strong will, of burning sentiment.

      "'Hear my voice, ye warlike birds!

       I prepare a feast for you to batten on;

       I see you cross the enemy's lines;

       Like you I shall go.

       I wish the swiftness of your wings;

       I wish the vengeance of your claws;

       I muster my friends;

       I follow your flight.

       Ho, ye young men that are warriors,

       Look with wrath on the battlefield!'

      "Each warrior that rises and joins the war-dance thereby becomes a volunteer for the trip. He arms and equips himself; he provides his own sustenance; and when he steps out into the ring and dances, he chants his own song, and is greeted with redoubling yells. These ceremonies are tantamount to 'enlistment,' and no young man who thus comes forward can honourably withdraw.

      "The sentiments of the following song were uttered by the celebrated Wabojeeg, as the leader of the Chippeways, after a victory over the combined Sioux and Sauks and Foxes, at the Falls of St. Croix, during the latter part of the seventeenth century:

      I

      "'Hear my voice, ye heroes!

       On that day when our warriors sprang

       With shouts on the dastardly foe,

       Just vengeance my heart burned to take

       On the cruel and treacherous breed,

       The Bwoin—the Fox—the Sauk.

      II

      "'And here, on my breast, have I bled!

       See—see! my battle scars!

       Ye mountains, tremble at my yell!

       I strike for life.

      III

      "'But who are my foes? They shall die,

       They shall fly o'er the plains like a fox;

       They shall shake like a leaf in the storm.

       Perfidious dogs! they roast our sons with fire!

      IV

      "'Five winters in hunting we'll spend,

       While mourning our warriors slain,

       Till our youth grown to men

       For the battle-path trained,

       Our days like our fathers we'll end.

      V

      "'Ye are dead, noble men! ye are gone,

       My brother—my fellow—my friend!

       On the death-path where brave men must go

       But we live to revenge you! We haste

       To die as our forefathers died.'

      "In 1824, Bwoinais, a Chippeway warrior of Lake Superior, repeated to me, with the appropriate tunes, the following war-songs, which had been uttered during the existing war between that nation and the Dakotas:

      I

      "'Oshawanung undossewug

       Penasewug ka baimwaidungig.'

       [From the south—they come, the warlike birds—

       Hark! to their passing screams.]

      II

      "'Todotobi penaise

       Ka dow Wiawwiaun.'

       [I wish to have the body of the fiercest bird,

       As swift—as cruel—as strong.]

      III

      "'Ne wawaibena, neowai

       Kagait ne minwaindum

       Nebunaikumig tshebaibewishenaun.'

       [I cast my body to the chance of battle.

      

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