the Indians have built their huts, planted their corn, caught their fish, killed their game, and buried their dead, are theirs by an indisputable title. The extent and limits of this right are fair subjects of negotiation between the white and red claimants; but in these negotiations, strength, skill, and power are all on one side, and combined against weakness, ignorance, and folly.

Character. The general features in the character of the Indian population are the same, with many shades of difference which their intercourse with the whites and other circumstances have produced, from the mere savage, clad in skins, and subsisting only on fish and game, to the Indian who cultivates his land, keeps his stock of domestic animals, and vies with his white neighbor in the enjoyments and arts of civilization. The description following refers to the Indian character, when not essentially altered by connection with civilized man. Their habitations, denominated wigwams, generally constructed of mud, clay, poles, and bushes, without floors, chimneys, or separate apartments, were the residence of the family or cluster of families by whom they were built, and considered their property only so long as they chose to occupy them. Land and its productions were common to the tribe. The principle of separate property, by which each should be permitted to enjoy the fruits of his own industry, was not recognized among them. Before their intercourse with Europeans had furnished them with implements of iron, their means of cultivating land and taking game afforded them a very precarious subsistence. The men, when not engaged in war or the chase, led lives of perfect indolence and inactivity, compelling their females to till their land, bear their burdens, dress their game, and perform their most laborious and menial services. The manner of treating females has ever been considered as one of the surest indicia of the state of society. Among savages, they are viewed as little better than their slaves, subject to the abusive and tyrannical sway of their lords; while in refined society they are considered as its brightest ornaments, and the arbitresses of its fashions and manners. The state of society among the North American Indians, measured by this standard, must be fixed at the lowest grade. Their vacant and unmeaning countenances denote the want of object for mental exertion, while their tall, regular, and well-proportioned limbs, taking their natural shape without constraint, condemn the bandages,

straight lacings, and ligaments, with which their more civilized neighbors deform the human body.

Usages. Without a written language, their code of mu nicipal law was exceedingly simple, consisting of a few customs retained in the memory of their chiefs. Without separate property, they needed no laws securing its possession, or regulating its transfer. In relation to personal injuries, each one was the judge and avenger of his own wrongs, subject however to an imperfect control, by the head men of the tribe. Where life had been taken, that of the aggressor was forfeited to the relations of the deceased, and the offense never forgiven, except in the rare case where the aggrieved consented to receive the offender as a substitute for the slain. Their form of government, so far as they might be considered as having any, was of the democratic cast. Peace and war, and the few general concerns of the tribe, were regulated at public meetings of their head men and warriors, denominated councils.

Mode of warfare. The connection between different tribes, was of a slender and temporary nature, liable to interruption from slight causes. Hence wars were frequent, and not being regulated by any of the principles which govern civilized nations, were of a barbarous and exterminating character. Prisoners were made only to afford the victors the savage delight of putting them to death by the most cruel tortures, and sometimes of feasting on their remains. Sudden onsets, ambuscade, and surprise, were the characteristics of their mode of warfare. An Indian seldom meets a foe in fair combat in the open field; if he fails to take his enemy unawares, he retires, and waits a more favorable opportunity. War is the delight of the savage. It rouses him from that state of listless inactivity to which he is condemned in time of peace, and calls into operation all the energies of his nature. He endures cold, hunger, and fatigue, with a patience unknown to civilized man, and when vanquished, submits to the severest tortures without a sigh.

Religion. The religious notions of the Indians are as simple and crude as the other features of their character. They believe the world to have been created some long time since by the Great Spirit, and placed on the back of a huge animal. Unable to comprehend how the good and evil which they see in the world, should proceed from the same source, they believe in the existence of two invisible beings, a good and an evil spirit, from one of which proceed