LETTER XXXV.
A brief Account of the Persons, Manners, Character, Qualifications, mental and corporeal, of the Indians; interspersed with Anecdotes.
Malden.
OF THE INDIANS.
WHAT I shall first take notice of in the persons of the Indians, is the colour of their skins, which, in fact, constitutes the most striking distinction between their persons and ours. In general their skin is of a copper cast; but a most wonderful difference of colour is observable amongst them; some, in whose veins there is no reason to think that any other than Indian blood flows, not having darker complexions than natives of the south of France or of Spain, whilst others, on the contrary, are nearly as black as negroes. Many persons, and particularly some of the most respectable of the French missionaries, whose long residence amongst the Indians ought to have made them competent judges of the matter, have been of opinion, that their natural colour does not vary from ours; and that the darkness of their complexion arises wholly from their anointing themselves so frequently with unctuous substances, and from their exposing themselves so much to the smoke of wood fires, and to the burning rays of the sun. But although it is certain that they think a dark complexion very becoming; that they take great pains from their earliest age to acquire such an one; and that many of them do, in process of time, contrive to vary their original colour very considerably; although it is certain likewise, that when first born their colour differs but little from ours; yet it appears evident to me, that the greater part of them are indebted for their different hues to nature alone. I have been induced to form this opinion from the following consideration, namely; that those children which are born of parents of a dark colour are almost universally of the same dark cast as those from whom they sprang. Nekig, that is, The Little Otter, an Ottoway chief of great notoriety, whose village is on Detroit River, and with whom we have become intimately acquainted, has a complexion that differs but little from that of an African; and his little boys, who are the very image of the father, are just as black as himself. With regard to Indian children being white on their first coming into the world, it ought by no means to be concluded from thence, that they would remain so if their mothers did not bedaub them with grease, herbs, &c. as it is well known that negro children are not perfectly black when born, nor indeed for many months afterwards, but that they acquire their jetty hue gradually, on being exposed to the air and sun, just as in the vegetable world the tender blade, on first peeping above ground, turns from white to a pale greenish colour, and afterwards to a deeper green.
Though I remarked to you in a former letter, that the Mississaguis, who live about Lake Ontario, were of a much darker cast than any other tribe of Indians I met with, yet I do not think that the different shades of complexion observable amongst the Indians are so much confined to particular tribes as to particular families; for even amongst the Mississaguis I saw several men that were comparatively of a very light colour. Judging of the Creeks, Cherokees, and other southern Indians, from what I have seen of them at Philadelphia, and at other towns in the States, whither they often come in large parties, led either by business or curiosity, it appears to me that their skin has a redder tinge, and more warmth of colouring in it, if I may use the expression, than that of the Indians in the neighbourhood of the lakes; it appears to me also, that there is less difference of colour amongst them than amongst those last mentioned.
OF THE INDIANS.
Amongst the female Indians also, in general, there is a much greater sameness of colour than amongst the men. I do not recollect to have seen any of a deeper complexion than what might be termed a dirty copper colour.
The Indians universally have long, straight, black, coarse hair, and black eyes, rather small than full sized; they have, in general, also, high prominent cheek bones, and sharp small noses, rather inclining to an aquiline shape; they have good teeth, and their breath, in general, is as sweet as that of a human being can be. The men are for the most part very well made; it is a most rare circumstance to meet with a deformed person amongst them: they are remarkably straight; have full open chests; their walk is firm and erect, and many amongst them have really a dignified deportment. Very few of them are under the middle stature, and none of them ever become very fat or corpulent. You may occasionally see amongst them stout robust men, closely put together, but in general they are but slightly made. Their legs, arms, and hands, are for the most part extremely well shaped; and very many amongst them would be deemed handsome men in any country in the world.
The women, on the contrary, are mostly under the middle size; and have higher cheek bones, and rounder faces than the men. They have very ungraceful carriages; walk with their toes turned considerably inwards, and with a shuffling gait; and as they advance in years they grow remarkably fat and coarse. I never saw an Indian woman of the age of thirty, but what her eyes were sunk, her forehead wrinkled, her skin loose and shrivelled, and her whole person, in short, forbidding; yet, when young, their faces and persons are really pleasing, not to say sometimes very captivating. One could hardly imagine, without witnessing it, that a few years could possibly make such an alteration as it does in their persons This sudden change is chiefly owing to the drudgery imposed on them by the men after a certain age; to their exposing themselves so much to the burning rays of the sun; sitting so continually in the smoke of wood fires; and, above all, to the general custom of prostituting themselves at a very early age.