This boy was handsome, extremely well formed, amiable, and of a pleasant, sprightly disposition. I used to take a pleasure in decorating him with rings, bracelets, ear-jewels, etc., which I made for him of copper, and ornamented and polished them in my best manner. I was also very careful to keep him free from vermin of every kind, washing him and combing his hair every day. These marks of attention were not only very pleasing to the child, who delighted in being kept neat and clean, as well as in being dressed off in his finery, but was highly gratifying both to Maquina and his queen, who used to express much satisfaction at my care of him.
In making my domestic establishment, I determined, as far as possible, to live in a more comfortable and cleanly manner than the others. For this purpose I erected with planks a partition of about three feet high between mine and the adjoining rooms, and made three bedsteads of the same, which I covered with boards, for my family to sleep on, which I found much more comfortable than sleeping on the floor amidst the dirt.
Fortunately, I found my Indian princess both amiable and intelligent, for one whose limited sphere of observation must necessarily give rise to but a few ideas. She was extremely ready to agree to anything that I proposed relative to our mode of living, was very attentive in keeping her garments and person neat and clean, and appeared in every respect solicitous to please me.
She was, as I have said, about seventeen; her person was small but well formed, as were her features; her complexion was, without exception, fairer than any of the women, with considerable colour in her cheeks, her hair long, black, and much softer than is usual with them, and her teeth small, even, and of a dazzling whiteness; while the expression of her countenance indicated sweetness of temper and modesty. She would indeed have been considered as very pretty in any country, and, excepting Maquina's queen, was by far the handsomest of any of their women.
With a partner possessing so many attractions, many may be apt to conclude that I must have found myself happy,—at least, comparatively so; but far otherwise was it with me. A compulsory marriage with the most beautiful and accomplished person in the world can never prove a source of real happiness; and, in my situation, I could not but view this connection as a chain that was to bind me down to this savage land, and prevent my ever again seeing a civilised country; especially when, in a few days after, Maquina informed me that there had been a meeting of his chiefs, in which it had been determined that, as I had married one of their women, I must be considered as one of them, and conform to their customs, and that in future neither myself nor Thompson should wear our European clothes, but dress in kutsaks[129] like themselves. This order was to me most painful, but I persuaded Maquina at length so far to relax in it as to permit me to wear those I had at present, which were almost worn out, and not to compel Thompson to change his dress, observing that, as he was an old man, such a change would cause his death.
Their religious celebration, which the last year took place in December, was in this commenced on the 15th of November, and continued for fourteen days. As I was now considered as one of them, instead of being ordered to the woods, Maquina directed Thompson and myself to remain and pray with them to Quahootze to be good to them, and thank him for what he had done.
It was opened in much the same manner as the former. After which, all the men and women in the village assembled at Maquina's house, in their plainest dresses, and without any kind of ornaments about them, having their heads bound around with the red fillet, a token of dejection and humiliation, and their countenances expressive of seriousness and melancholy. The performances during the continuance of this celebration consisted almost wholly in singing a number of songs to mournful airs, the king regulating the time by beating on his hollow plank or drum, accompanied by one of his chiefs seated near him with the great rattle. In the meantime they ate but seldom, and then very little, retiring to sleep late, and rising at the first appearance of dawn, and even interrupting this short period of repose by getting up at midnight and singing.
The ceremony was terminated by an exhibition of a similar character to the one of the last year, but still more cruel. A boy of twelve years old, with six bayonets run into his flesh, one through each arm and thigh, and through each side close to the ribs, was carried around the room suspended upon them, without manifesting any symptoms of pain. Maquina, on my inquiring the reason of this display, informed me that it was an ancient custom of his nation to sacrifice a man at the close of this solemnity, in honour of their God, but that his father had abolished it, and substituted this in its place.[130] The whole closed on the evening of the 29th, with a great feast of salmon spawn and oil, at which the natives, as usual, made up for their late abstinence.
A few days after, a circumstance occurred, which, from its singularity, I cannot forbear mentioning. I was sent for by my neighbour Yealthlower, the king's elder brother, to file his teeth, which operation having been performed, he informed me that a new wife, whom he had a little time before purchased, having refused to sleep with him, it was his intention, provided she persisted in her refusal, to bite off her nose. I endeavoured to dissuade him from it, but he was determined, and, in fact, performed his savage threat that very night, saying that since she would not be his wife, she should not be that of any other, and in the morning sent her back to her father.
The inhuman act did not, however, proceed from any innate cruelty of disposition or malice, as he was far from being of a barbarous temper; but such is the despotism exercised by these savages over their women, that he no doubt considered it as a just punishment for her offence, in being so obstinate and perverse; as he afterwards told me, that in similar cases the husband had a right with them to disfigure his wife in this way or some other, to prevent her ever marrying again.