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. "There are some animals, which, though they are not considered as invested with power over them, yet are believed to be placed as guardians over their lives; and entitled to some notice and tokens of gratitude. Thus when in the night an owl is heard sounding its note or calling to its mate some person in the camp will rise and take some Glicanican, or Indian tobacco, will strew it on the fire, thinking that the ascending smoke will reach the bird, and that he will see that they are not unmindful of his services and of his kindness to them and their ancestors. This cus tom originated from the following incident, which tradition has handed down: It happened at one time when they were engaged in a war with a distant and powerful nation, that a body of their warriors were in the camp fast asleep, no kind of danger at that moment being apprehended. Suddenly the great Sentinel over mankind, the Owl, sounded the alarm; all the birds of the species were alert at their posts, all at once calling out as if saying: 'Up! Up! Danger! Danger!' Obedient to their call, every man jumped up in an instant, when, to their surprise, they found that their enemy was in the very act of surrounding them, and that they would all have been killed in their sleep if the owl had not given them this timely warning. "After a successful war the Indians never fail to offer up a sacrifice to the great Being, to return him thanks for having given them courage and strength to destroy or conquer their enemies. Previous to entering upon the solemnity of their sacrifice they prepare themselves by vomiting, fasting and drinking decoctions from certain described plants. They do this to expel the evil which is within them and that they may with a pure conscience attend to the sacred performance. There are sacrifices of prayer and sacrifices of thanksgiving, some for all the favors received by them and their ancestors, others for special or particular benefits. Warriors think it necessary to bring home the scalps of those they have killed or disabled, as visible proofs of their valor; otherwise they are afraid that their relation of the combat and the account they give of their individual prowess might be doubted or disbelieved. These scalps are dried up, painted and preserved as trophies, and a warrior is esteemed in proportion to the number of them that he can show. It is a well known fact that the Indians pluck out all their hair except one tuft on the crown of their heads, which is that they might take off each other's scalps with the greater facility. 'When we go to fight an enemy,' say they, 'we meet on equal ground, and we take off each other's scalps if we can. The conquerer, whoever he may be, is entitled to have something to show his bravery and his triumph, and it would be ungenerous in a warrior to deprive an enemy of the means of acquiring that glory of which he himself is in pursuit.' A warrior's conduct ought to be manly, else he is no man. As this custom prevails among all the Indian nations, it would seem to be the result of a tacit agreement among them to leave the usual trophies of victory accessible to the contending warriors on all sides. It is an awful spectacle to see the Indian warriors return home from a successful expedition with their prisoners and the scalps taken in battle. It is not unlike the return of a victorious army from the field with the prisoners and the colors taken from the enemy, but the appearance is far more frightful and terrific. The scalps are carried in front fixed on the end of a thin pole about five or six inches in length; the prisoners follow and the warriors advance shouting the dreadful scalp yell which has been called by some the death halloo. For every head taken dead or alive a separate shout is given. In this yell or whoop there is a mixture of triumph and terror; its elements seem to be glory and fear so as to express at once the feelings of the shouting warriors and those which they have inspired in their enemies. "Different from this yell is the alarm whoop, which is never sounded but when danger is near. It is performed in quick succession. Both this and the scalp yell consist of the sounds aw, and oh, successively uttered, the last more accented and sounded higher than the first; but in the scalp yell this last sound is drawn out at great length, as long, indeed, as the breath will hold, and is raised about an octave higher than the former, while in the alarm. whoop, it is rapidly struck on, as it were, and only a few notes above the other. These yells or whoops are dreadful indeed, and well calculated to strike with terror those whom long habit has not accustomed to them. It is difficult to describe the impression which the scalp yell makes on a person who hears it for the first time." A There are w krema kl fe "estechers that engine of the Se de grenal and current species of a wa zdi Sele el all over the continent, as hich we call Feak and Rinia VOR MORE Aany. This is that which at New York is |