For the summer time is coming,
And the sun is warm in heaven,

And you need no white skin wrapper.

Thus aloud cried Hiawatha,

In the solitary forest,

When the birds were singing gaily.

With his knife the tree he girdled ;
Just beneath its lowest branches,
Just above the roots he cut it,
Till the sap came oozing outward;
Down the trunk from top to bottom,
Sheer he cleft the bark asunder,
With a wooden wedge he raised it,
Stripped it from the trunk unbroken.

Give me of your boughs, O Cedar,
Of your strong and pliant branches,
My canoe to make more steady,
Make more strong and firm beneath me!

Down he hewed the boughs of cedar, Shaped them straightway to a framework, Like two bows he formed and shaped them, Like two bended bows together.

Give me of your roots, O Tamarock,
Of your fibrous roots, O Larch Tree!
My canoe to bind together,

So to bind the ends together,
That the water may not enter,
That the river may not wet me!

From the earth he tore the fibres, Tore the tough roots of the larch tree, Closely sewed the bark together, Bound it closely to the framework.

Give me of your balms, O Fir Tree,
Of your balsam and your resin,
So to close the seams together
That the water may not enter,
That the river may not wet me.

And he took the tears of balsam, Took the resin of the fir tree,

Smeared therewith each seam and fissure, Made each crevice safe from water.

Give me of your quills, O Hedgehog! I will make a necklace of them,

Make a girdle for my beauty,

And two stars to deck her bosom !

From a hollow tree the hedgehog With his sleepy eyes looked at him, Shot his shining quills, like arrows, Saying with a drowsy murmur, Through the tangle of his whiskers,

"Take my quills, O Hiawatha!" From the ground the quills he gathered, All the little shining arrows,

Stained them red and blue and yellow,
With the juice of roots and berries;
Into his canoe he wrought them

Round his waist a shining girdle,
Round its bows a gleaming necklace,
On its breast two stars resplendent.

Thus the birch canoe was builded,
In the valley, by the river,
In the bosom of the forest;
And the forest's life was in it,
All its mystery and its magic,
All the lightness of the birch tree,
All the toughness of the cedar,
All the birch's supple sinews,
And it floated on the river
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily."

LONGFELLOW.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SCALPING.

This custom, practiced by all the North American Indians, is done when an enemy is killed in battle, by grasping, with the left hand, the hair on the crown of the head and passing the knife around it through the skin, tearing off a piece of the skin with the hair as large as the palm of the hand or larger, which is dried, and often curiously ornamented. This piece is preserved and highly valued as a trophy. The scalping is an operation not calculated of itself to take life, as it only removes the skin without injuring the bone of the head. To be a genuine scalp only the crown of the head, or that part which lies directly over what the phrenologists call "self-esteem," where the hair divides and radiate from the center, can be taken. This will prevent taking two or more scalps from one head. Besides taking the scalp the victor generally, if he has time to do it without endangering his own scalp, cuts off and brings home the rest of the hair, which his wife will divide into a great many small locks and with them will fringe off the seams of his shirt and leggins. These so-called "scalp-jackets" were buried with the owner; so that a war chief took with him his insignia of rank beyond the grave. As only locks of the scalp taken by the individual could be worn on his dress, the Indians said that "when a man was dressed in this way he wore his badge of bravery, of courageous deeds performed; he walked a chief."

The scalp, then, is a patch of the skin taken from the head of an enemy killed in battle, and preserved and highly appreciated as the record of a death produced by the hand of the individual who possesses it, and may oftentimes during his life-time be of great service to a man living in a community where there is no historian to enroll the names of the famous, to record the heroic deeds of the brave, who have gained their laurels in mortal com

bat with the enemies, where it is as lawful and as glorious to slay an enemy in battle as it is in Christian communities, and where the poor Indian is bound to keep the record himself, or to lose it and the honor, for no one in the tribe will keep it for him. As the scalp is taken, then, as the evidence of death, it will easily be seen that the Indian has no business or inclination to take it from the head of the living. It may be, though, that in the heat of battle a man may be stunned by the blow of a weapon, or a gunshot, and the Indian, rushing over his body, snatch off his scalp supposing him dead. Cases of this kind have not been unfrequent,

and the scalpless survivor wears a bald spot on his head the remainder of his life as the only consequence.

The scalp must be from the head of an enemy or it subjects its possessor to disgrace and infamy. There may be many instances where an Indian is justified, in the estimation of his tribe, to take the life of one of his own people, and their laws are such as oftentimes make it his imperative duty, and yet no circumstance, however aggravating, will justify him or release him from the disgrace of taking the scalp.

There is no custom practiced by the Indians for which

they are more universally condemned than that of taking the scalp; and at the same time there is some excuse for them, inasmuch as it is a general custom of the country, and founded like many other apparently absurd and ridiculous customs of these people, in one of the necessities of Indian life, which necessities we are free from in the civilized world. From an ancient custom" time out of mind,” the warriors of these tribes have been in the habit of going to war, expecting to take the scalps of their enemies whom they may slay in battle, and all eyes of the tribe are upon them, making it their duty to do it. So from custom it is every man's right and his duty also, to continue and keep up a regulation of his society which it is as an individual to abolish or correct, if he Many of the Indians wear a scalp-lock. reaches the age of five years the mother marks it on the top of the head where the crown or curl is, and the hair, on a spot about two inches in diameter, is braided. The braid is formed of three strands, and the circle is marked by pulling out the hair. The little circular patch is painted ; usually with red ochre. The hair of the head is parted in the middle and the parting extended to the circle. The scalp-lock seems meant to be a mark of manhood and defiance, a sort of "take it if you dare and can idea.

not in his power saw fit to do so.

When the boy

When a war party returns from a war excursion bringing home with them the scalps of their enemies they generally dance for fifteen nights in succession, vaunting forth the most extravagant boasts of their wonderful prowess in war, whilst they brandish their war-weapons in their hands. A number of young women are selected to aid (though they do not actually join in the dance) by stepping in the center of the ring and holding up the scalps that have been recently taken whilst the warriors dance, or rather jump, around in a circle, brandishing their weapons, and barking and yelping in the most frightful manner, all jumping on both feet at a time with a simultaneous stamp and blow; and thrust their weapons, with which it would seem they were actually cutting and carving each other to pieces. During these frantic