The following story, which I received from a person of undoubted credit, proves that the Indians are not only able to reason with great acuteness on the causes and symptoms of many of the disorders which are attendant on human nature, but to apply with equal judgment proper remedies.
In Penobscot, a settlement in the province of Main, in the north-east parts of New England, the wife of a soldier was taken in labour, and notwithstanding every necessary assistance was given her, could not be delivered. In this situation she remained for two or three days, the persons around her expecting that the next pang would put an end to her existence.
An Indian woman, who accidentally passed by, heard the groans of the unhappy sufferer, and enquired from whence they proceeded. Being made acquainted with the desperate circumstances attending the case, she told the informant, that if she might be permitted to see the person, she did not doubt but that she could be of great service to her.
The surgeon that had attended, and the midwife who was then present, having given up every hope of preserving their patient, the Indian woman was allowed to make use of any methods she thought proper. She accordingly took a handkerchief, and bound it tight over the nose and mouth of the woman: this immediately brought on a suffocation; and from the struggles that consequently ensued she was in a few seconds delivered. The moment this was atchieved, and time enough to prevent any fatal effect, the handkerchief was taken off. The long suffering patient thus happily relieved from her pains, soon after perfectly recovered, to the astonishment of all those who had been witness to her desperate situation.
The reason given by the Indian for this hazardous method of proceeding was, that desperate disorders require desperate remedies; that as she observed the exertions of nature were not sufficiently forcible to effect the desired consequence, she thought it necessary to augment their force, which could only be done by some mode that was violent in the extreme.
CHAPTER XV.
Of the Manner in which they treat their Dead.
AN Indian meets death when it approaches him in his hut, with the same resolution he has often faced him in the field. His indifference relative to this important article, which is the source of so many apprehensions to almost every other nation, is truly admirable. When his fate is pronounced by the physician, and it remains no longer uncertain, he harangues those about him with the greatest composure.
If he is a chief and has a family, he makes a kind of funeral oration, which he concludes by giving to his children such advice for the regulation of their conduct as he thinks necessary. He then takes leave of his friends, and issues out orders for the preparation of a feast, which is designed to regale those of his tribe that come to pronounce his eulogium.
After the breath is departed, the body is dressed in the same attire it usually wore whilst living, his face is painted, and he is seated in an erect posture on a mat or skin placed in the middle of the hut, with his weapons by his side. His relations being seated round, each harangues in turn the deceased; and if he has been a great warrior, recounts his heroic actions nearly to the following purport, which in the Indian language is extremely poetical and pleasing:
“You still sit among us, Brother, your person retains its usual resemblance, and continues similar to ours, without any visible deficiency, except that it has lost the power of action. But whither is that breath flown, which a few hours ago sent up smoke to the Great Spirit? Why are those lips silent, that lately delivered to us expressive and pleasing language? why are those feet motionless, that a short time ago were fleeter than the deer on yonder mountains? why useless hang those arms that could climb the tallest tree, or draw the toughest bow? Alas! every part of that frame which we lately beheld with admiration and wonder, is now become as inanimate as it was three hundred winters ago. We will not, however, bemoan thee as if thou wast for ever lost to us, or that thy name would be buried in oblivion; thy soul yet lives in the great Country of Spirits, with those of thy nation that are gone before thee; and though we are left behind to perpetuate thy fame, we shall one day join thee. Actuated by the respect we bore thee whilst living, we now come to tender to thee the last act of kindness it is in our power to bestow: that thy body might not lie neglected on the plain, and become a prey to the beasts of the field, or the fowls of the air, we will take care to lay it with those of thy predecessors who are gone before thee; hoping at the same time, that thy spirit will feed with their spirits, and be ready to receive ours, when we also shall arrive at the great Country of Souls.”