The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2 / Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics

by J. G. Wood

A few very simple manœuvres are known to them, and practised by them from infancy, but they lead to nothing more than skirmishing, the chief being merely the leader of his men, and expected to be in the post of danger. The idea of a general directing the battle from a place of comparative safety is unknown to them.

Declaration of war is made in the full council of chiefs and doctors, the majority deciding the question. The chief who is to lead the expedition then asks for volunteers by sending his reddened war pipe through the tribe by means of his messengers, and each warrior who draws a puff of smoke through its stem by that act enlists himself.

After the pipe has gone its round and a sufficient number of men have volunteered, a grand war dance is got up in front of the chief’s house, where has been set up a post covered with red paint, the sign of war. The newly enlisted warriors make their appearance with all their weapons, and execute a solemn dance, each man in succession dancing up to the reddened post and striking his axe into it as a public ratification of his promise. As has been mentioned, the leader always wears every decoration to which he is entitled, so as to make himself as conspicuous a mark as possible, while the braves and warriors wear scarcely any clothing, and have their faces so disguised with black and red paint that even their most intimate friends can scarcely recognize them.

As among us, white and red are the signs of peace and war, and each leader carries with him two small flags, one of white bison’s hide, and the other of reddened leather. These are kept rolled round the staff like a railway flag-signal, and only produced when required.

At the present day fire-arms have superseded the original weapons of the American Indians, and much changed the mode of warfare. We will, however, contemplate the warfare of these tribes as it was conducted before the introduction of these weapons, when the bow, the club, the axe, the spear, and in some districts the lasso, were the only weapons employed.

In [illustration No. 4], on page 1265, are seen examples of the clubs and shield, drawn from specimens in the Christy Collection. The clubs are short, seldom exceeding a yard in length, and mostly eight or nine inches shorter. They are almost invariably made upon one or other of two models, examples of which are seen in the illustration. The primitive idea of a club is evidently derived from a stick with a knob at the end, and that is the form which is most in vogue. In the common kind of club the whole of the weapon is quite plain, but in many specimens the native has imbedded a piece of bone or spike of iron in the ball or bulb at the end of the club, and has decorated the handle with feathers, bits of cloth, scalps, and similar ornaments.

The second kind of club is shaped something like the stock of a gun, and has always a spike projecting from the angle. In most cases this spike is nothing more than a pointed piece of iron or the head of a spear, but in some highly valued weapons a very broad steel blade is employed, its edges lying parallel with the length of the weapon. Such a club as this is often decorated with some hundreds of brass headed nails driven into it so as to form patterns, and is besides ornamented so profusely with strings and feathers, and long trailing scalp-locks five or six feet in length, that the efficacy of the weapon must be seriously impeded by them.

I have handled both kinds of clubs, and found this latter weapon to be most awkward and unwieldy, its thick, squared, sloping handle giving scarcely any power to the grasp, while the abundant ornaments are liable to entanglement in the other weapons that are carried about the person.

The shield is made by a very ingenious process from the thick hide which covers the shoulders of the bull bison. Making a shield is a very serious, not to say solemn, business, and is conducted after the following manner.

The warrior selects a piece of hide at least twice as large as the intended shield, and from the hoof and joints of the bison prepares a strong glue. He then digs in the ground a hole the exact size of the shield, and almost two feet in diameter, and makes in it a smouldering fire of decayed wood. These arrangements being completed, his particular friends assemble for the purpose of dancing, singing, and smoking round the shield maker, and invoking the Great Spirit to render the weapon proof against spears and arrows.