The Indian women sometimes accompany the men on hunting excursions, for the purpose of bringing home the game; and in time of battle they often encourage and assist the warriors. In addition to the toilsome occupations already alluded to, they made garments of skins, sewed with sinews and thorns, wove neat mats and baskets, and embroidered very prettily with shells, feathers, and grass of various colors. When first visited by Europeans, they wore furs in winter, and mats tied about them in summer; but they soon learned to substitute blankets, and strips of cloth. Those that can afford it, have ears, neck, arms, and waist plentifully decorated with beads, pebbles, fishes’ teeth, or shells. The Indians of California perforate the lobes of the ears, and insert pieces of wood five or six inches long, ornamented with feathers. On the North-West coast, the women make a horizontal incision in the lower lip, for the purpose of introducing a wooden plug, which makes the lip protrude in a hideous manner. In the neighborhood of Kotzebue’s sound, they wear large beads suspended from the nose, and when they experience inconvenience from these ornaments, they stow them away in the nostrils. The Guiana females stick thorns, or pins, through the lower lip; the heads are inside, and the points rest upon the chin. They have likewise the habit of putting a band round the ankle and knee, when girls are ten or twelve years old; as this is never removed, it produces an unnatural compression, and the calf of the leg swells to an unwieldy size. Indians of both sexes paint themselves in various colors and patterns, and are more or less addicted to tattooing; though it is by no means practised to the extent that it is among the South sea islanders.
Before America was visited by Europeans, the Indian tribes were universally temperate, healthy, and cleanly in their habits; but they have now acquired most of the evils of civilization, with few of its advantages. They have a reddish brown complexion, keen black eyes, regular white teeth, and sleek, shining black hair, which the women usually suffer to flow over the shoulders. Those who live near the sea never become bald, and their hair does not turn gray; perhaps this may be owing to the frequent habit of bathing in salt water, which always has a salutary effect on the hair.
The vigorous forms of their children may be attributed to active habits, and to the entire freedom of their limbs from all bands, ligatures, or clothing. Several tribes have the habit of flattening the forehead, by heavy pressure during infancy. To be childless is considered almost as great a misfortune as it was among the Jews. A man will never divorce a wife who has brought him sons, and though he may perchance marry several others, he always considers her as entitled to peculiar respect.
Indian women are usually well skilled in simple remedies, and are the physicians of their tribes. In some places, medicine is considered peculiarly efficacious if it is prepared and administered by the hand of a maiden. The healing art is intimately connected in their minds with magic, and medicines are seldom given without prayers and incantations, to avert the influence of evil spirits. There are in almost every tribe individuals who claim the gift of prophecy, and endeavor to foretel future events by conjurations and dreams. I am not aware that they consider women more frequently endowed with this supernatural power than men.
Some tribes bury their dead, others expose them on scaffolds suspended in high trees. The arms and horse of a warrior are buried with him for his use in another world; and a mortar, kettle, and other utensils of daily use accompany the corpse of a female. When a great chief dies, his wives, and many of his attendants, are sometimes obliged to follow him to the world of spirits. The tribe of Natchez is ruled by a chief called The Great Sun; and when any woman of the blood of the Suns dies, it becomes necessary that her husband and attendants should be sacrificed in honor of her decease. The widows of illustrious chiefs generally take pride in devoting themselves to death with stoical firmness. The wife of The Stung Serpent, who was brother to The Great Sun, thus addressed her children when she was about to leave them: “Your father waits for me in the land of spirits. If I were to yield to your tears, I should injure my love, and fail in my duty. You that are descended of his blood, and fed by my milk, ought not to weep. Rather rejoice that you are Suns and warriors, bound to give examples of firmness to the whole nation.” The victims, having been made giddy by swallowing little balls of tobacco, are strangled, and placed near the corpse upon mats, ranged according to their rank.
The Indians, both men and women, lament for the dead with loud howling and lamentation, blacken their faces, and wound themselves with flints, knives, and splinters of wood. When the women are going out to work, or returning from their labors, the widows of the tribe often join in a sort of dirge, or mourning chorus.
As sailors have the superstition that it brings bad luck to have a woman on board a ship, so the Indians believe that the fleetest horse in the world would lose his speed, if a woman were suffered to mount him; hence when it becomes necessary for women to ride, they are placed on old worn-out animals.
Among the Dacotahs a particular lodge is set apart for councils, and the reception of strangers. The women supply it with wood and water, but are never permitted to enter it. This tribe have an institution called the Lodge of the Grand Medicine, the ceremonies of which are celebrated in secret, and the members know each other by certain signs. It differs from Free-Masonry, in allowing women to be among the initiated.
The women of the Hurons and Iroquois seem to have had more influence than was common among other tribes. Huron women might appoint a member of the council, and one of their own sex if they chose. They could prevail upon the warriors to go to battle, or desist from it, according to their wishes. Among the Natchez, authority descended in an hereditary line both to male and female. It is a general rule with the American tribes that a man should be succeeded by his sister’s children, not by his own.
The dwellings of the Indians are huts made of the interwoven boughs of trees, or tents covered with the skins of animals, without division of apartments. Whole villages of women and children are often left for weeks, while the men are absent on hunting expeditions.