That her fears are nothing but pretence.
She is handsomer than scarlet and wampum;
I will put on a blue leggin and run after her.”
The Indians, both men and women, had great love of finery. Their caps, belts, and moccasins were plentifully embroidered with beads and shells, which they called wampum. The chiefs considered a coronet of feathers peculiarly beautiful; but this ornament, generally indicative of successful war, was seldom worn by women. But even among these rude people, jokes concerning female love of dress were not wanting. A few years since, the writer conversed with two Penobscot Indians, the one old, the other young, and very handsome. The youth wore a scarlet band upon his hat, and his wampum belt was curiously embroidered; the other had an old blanket carelessly wrapped about him. “Where is your wampum belt?” said I. With a look of quiet scorn, he replied, “What for me wear ribbons and beads? Me no want to catch ’em squaw.”[3]
[3] Indians call their women squaws, and infants papooses.
Among the Hohays are men who dress in a female garb, and perform all manner of female avocations. They are called Winktahs, and treated with the utmost contempt.
The Indian bridegroom generally pays his father-in-law for his bride; and even in their primitive form of society, he who can offer a large price is most likely to be acceptable to parents. Handsome Indian girls are not unfrequently disposed of contrary to their inclinations. They are not permitted to marry relations within so near a degree of consanguinity as cousins. Suicide is common among the women of these savage tribes. When thwarted in love, or driven to desperation by ill usage, they frequently hang themselves to the branch of a tree, rush into the sea, or throw themselves from a precipice. The men very rarely destroy their own lives. They seldom have more than one wife at a time; but they change just when they please, interchange with each other, and lend to visiters, without scandal. When a wife becomes old, a younger one is often purchased; and the first one may either kill herself, or tamely submit to be the drudge of the family. In several tribes, the pieces of stick given to the witnesses at the marriage are burnt, in sign of divorce. But, generally speaking, new connections are formed without any formal dissolution of the old one.
When the sachem of Saugus married the daughter of the chief of Pennakook, a great feast was given, and the bride and bridegroom escorted to their dwelling by some of the most honorable men of her father’s tribe, who were feasted several days at the expense of the husband. Some time after, the wife expressed a wish to visit her father, and was permitted to do so, with a select escort to accompany her. When she desired to return, the old chief sent to the sachem to come and take her away. This offended the young man’s pride. “I sent her to you in a manner that became a chief,” he replied; “and now that she intends to return to me, I expect the same from you.” The chief of Pennakook considered this an insolent message. He would not allow his daughter to return unless her husband sent for her; the sachem would not submit to the terms; and the young couple saw each other no more.
The Indians pride themselves on stoicism, and at no period of their history have been addicted to voluptuousness. Their sense of manliness and dignity prevents them from being immodest. In this respect, their deportment towards women is abundantly more praiseworthy than that of civilized nations.
When it was proposed (either facetiously or otherwise) that women should be members of parliament, an Englishman objected to it, on the ground that a lady, who sat with committees of gentlemen, might sometimes meet with a species of impoliteness that would be embarrassing. If this be a reason why women should not transact public business, it is a fact exceedingly disgraceful to civilized men. Female captives taken by Indians, though treated with the most diabolical cruelty, according to their savage mode of warfare, have travelled with powerful warriors days and weeks, through the loneliest paths of the forest, and never been subjected to the slightest personal insult.