Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/127

 that of the {84} Illinois, and the Llenilenape, or "original and genuine men," as it is translated, of the Delawares.[91] The name of Akansa or Arkansa, if ever generally assumed by the natives of this territory, is now, I am persuaded, scarcely ever employed; they generally call themselves O-guah-pa or Osark, from which last epithet, in all probability, has been derived the name of the river and its people; indeed, I have heard old French residents in this country, term it Riviere des Arks or d'Osark.

They employ artificial means to eradicate that pubescence from their bodies, which is, indeed, naturally scanty. The angle of the eye is usually elongated, but never turned up exteriorly, as it is said, in common with the Tartars, by Humboldt, to be the case with the Mexicans.

Although they may be said to be taciturn, compared with Frenchmen, their passions are not difficult to excite.

As hunters, they are industrious, but pay little attention to agriculture; and pleased by intercourse with the whites, they are not unwilling to engage as boatmen and hunters.

About a century ago, father Charlevoix describes the Arkansas as occupying four villages; that which he visited was situated on the bank of the Mississippi, in a little meadow, which was (in 1819) M'Lane's landing, the only contiguous spot free from inundation. The people called Akansas by this author, were then made up of the confederated remnants of ruined tribes. The villages which he