Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 2).djvu/122

116 diately granted his request, and added a bottle of rum, with which he seemed well pleased, and I heard no more of it.

But to return to the subject of going to war. The women and children sometimes go forward in their canoes singing the war songs, and encamp every evening at sunset, having a great dislike to travelling in the dark. Forty-eight young warriors are placed, in four divisions, to keep guard at night, armed with guns, bows and arrows, and some scotté wigwas, or fire bark, to light in case of sudden surprise.

This bark is taken from the birch tree, and being properly dried, is used by the Indians to light them to spear fish: it is fixed on a stick about seven feet long, and either put at the head of the canoe, or carried by the person who attends upon the man that spears, and whose business it is also to steer the canoe.

At day break the Indians depart, and pursue their journey regardless of the weather, till they arrive in the enemy's country, when the utmost precaution is adopted that it is possible for human invention to suggest.

[80] When war is made against the Mississippi Indians, they endeavour to kill the men and women, and bring away the children to dispose of to the traders, who send them down to Montreal for servants. The boys are not so much to be depended upon as the girls, being more stubborn, and naturally disdaining the idea of slavery; they are also full of pride and resentment, and will not hesitate to kill their masters in order to gratify their revenge for a supposed injury. The girls are more docile, and assimilate much sooner with the manners of civilization. Being unaccustomed to domestic life, they are at first sick and unhealthy; but the change soon becomes