scalp of an enemy. On the return of the Indians from conquest, which is
always announced by peculiar shoutings, demonstrations of joy, and the
exhibition of some trophy of victory, the mourners come forward and make
their claims. If they receive a prisoner, it is at their option either to
satiate their vengeance by taking his life in the most cruel manner they
can conceive of; or, to receive and adopt him into the family, in the
place of him whom they have lost. All the prisoners that are taken in
battle and carried to the encampment or town by the Indians, are given to
the bereaved families, till their number is made good.

And unless the mourners have but just received the news of their
bereavement, and are under the operation of a paroxysm of grief, anger and
revenge; or, unless the prisoner is very old, sickly, or homely, they
generally save him, and treat him kindly. But if their mental wound is
fresh, their loss so great that they deem it irreparable, or if their
prisoner or prisoners do not meet their approbation, no torture, let it be
ever so cruel, seems sufficient to make them satisfaction. It is family,
and not national, sacrifices amongst the Indians, that has given them an
indelible stamp as barbarians, and identified their character with the
idea which is generally formed of unfeeling ferocity, and the most
abandoned cruelty.

It was my happy lot to be accepted for adoption; and at the time of the
ceremony I was received by the two squaws, to supply the place of their
brother in the family; and I was ever considered and treated by them as a
real sister, the same as though I had been born of their mother.

During my adoption, I sat motionless, nearly terrified to death at the
appearance and actions of the company, expecting every moment to feel
their vengeance, and suffer death on the spot. I was, however, happily