The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 10, No. 279, October 20, 1827 by Various
page 42 of 54 (77%)
page 42 of 54 (77%)
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particular family, and the dreadful inheritance descends to all the
children, male and female. Its duties cannot be dispensed with, and the sanctions of religion are added to the obligations of immemorial usage. The feast is considered a solemn ceremony, at which the whole tribe is collected as actors or spectators. The miserable victim is fastened to a stake, and burned at a slow fire, with all the refinements of cruelty which savage ingenuity can invent. There is a traditionary ritual, which regulates, with revolting precision, the whole course of procedure at these ceremonies. The institution has latterly declined, but we know those who have seen and related to us the incidents which occurred on these occasions, when white men were sacrificed and consumed. The chief of the family and principal members of the society among the Miames, whose name was White Skin, we have seen, and with feelings of loathing, excited by a narrative of his atrocities, amid the scenes when they occurred..--_North American Review._ * * * * * THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS._ * * * * * |
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