IV. spect to their enemies, the rage of vengeance knows B O O K no bounds. When under the dominion of this passion, man becomes the most cruel of all animals. He neither pities, nor forgives, nor spares. arms. The force of this passion is so well understood by the Americans themselves, that they always apply to it in order to excite their people to take If the elders of any tribe attempt to rouse their youth from sloth, if a chief wishes to allure a band of warriors to follow him in invading an ene-my's country, the most persuasive topics of their martial eloquence are drawn from revenge. "The bones of our countrymen," say they, "lie uncovered; their bloody bed has not been washed clean. Their spirits cry against us; they must be appeased. Let us go and devour the people by whom they were slain. Sit no longer inactive upon your mats; lift the hatchet, console the spirits of the dead, and tell them that they shall be avenged". perpe tuity. Animated with such exhortations, the youth and their snatch their arms in a transport of fury, raise the song of war, and burn with impatience to imbrue their hands in the blood of their enemies. Private chiefs often assemble small parties, and invade a hostile tribe, without consulting the rulers of the community. A single warrior, prompted by caprice or revenge, will take the field alone, and march several hundred miles to surprise and cut off a straggling enemy. The exploits of a noted warrior, in such solitary excursions, often form the chief a Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 216, 217. Lery ap. de Bry, iii, 204. b See NOTE XII BOOK part in the history of an American campaign; and IV. their elders connive at such irregular sallies, as they Mode of carrying on war; tend to cherish a martial spirit, and accustom their people to enterprise and danger. But when a war is national, and undertaken by public authority, the deliberations are formal and slow. The elders assemble, they deliver their opinions in solemn speeches, they weigh with maturity the nature of the enterprise, and balance its beneficial or disadvantageous consequences with no inconsiderable portion of political discernment or sagacity. Their priests and soothsayers are consulted, and sometimes they ask the advice even of their women. If the determination be for war, they prepare for it with much ceremony. A leader offers to conduct the expedition, and is accepted. But no man is constrained to follow him; the resolution of the community to commence hostilities imposes no obligation upon any member to take part in the war. Each individual is still master of his own conduct, and his engagement in the service is perfectly voluntaryf. The maxims by which they regulate their military operations, though extremely different from those which take place among more civilized and populous nations, are well suited to their own political state, and the nature of the country in which they act. They never take the field in numerous See NOTE XIII. Bossu, i. 140. Lery ap. de Bry, 215. Hennepin Mœurs des Sauv. 41. Lafitau, ii. 169. e Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. 215, 268. Biet, 367, 380. f Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. 217, 218. IV. bodies, as it would require a greater effort of fore- B O O K sight and industry, than is usual among savages, to provide for their subsistence during a march of some hundred miles through dreary forests, or during á long voyage upon their lakes and rivers. Their armies are not encumbered with baggage or military stores. Each warrior, besides his arms, carries a mat and a small bag of pounded maize, and with these is completely equipped for any service. While at a distance from the enemy's frontier, they disperse through the woods, and support themselves with the game which they kill, or the fish which they catch. As they approach nearer to the ter ritories of the nation which they intend to attack, they collect their troops, and advance with greater caution. Even in their hottest and most active wars, they proceed wholly by stratagem and ambuscade. They place not their glory in attacking their enemies with open force. To surprise and destroy is the greatest merit of a commander, and the highest pride of his followers. War and hunting are their only occupations, and they conduct both with the same spirit and the same arts. They follow the track of their enemies through the forest. They endeavour to discover their haunts, they lurk in some thicket near to these, and, with the patience of a sportsman lying in wait for game, will continue in their station day after day, until they can rush upon their prey when most secure, and least able to resist them. If they meet no straggling party of the enemy, they advance towards their villages, but with such solicitude to conceal their own approach, that they often creep on their IV. BOOK hands and feet through the woods, and paint their skins of the same colour with the withered leaves, in order to avoid detection. If so fortunate as to remain unobserved, they set on fire the enemies' huts in the dead of night, and massacre the inhabitants as they fly naked and defenceless from the flames. If they hope to effect a retreat without being pursued, they carry off some prisoners, whom they reserve for a more dreadful fate. But if, notwithstanding all their address and precautions, they find that their motions are discovered, that the enemy has taken the alarm, and is prepared to oppose them, they usually deem it most prudent to retire. They regard it as extreme folly to meet an enemy who is on his guard, upon equal terms, or to give battle in an open field. The most distinguished success is a disgrace to a leader, if it has been purchased with any considerable loss of his followers", and they never boast of a victory, if stained with the blood of their, own countrymen'. To fall in battle, instead of being reckoned an honourable death, is a misfortune which subjects the memory of a warrior to the imputation of rashness or imprudence. not owing to any defect of This system of war was universal in America; and the small uncivilized tribes, dispersed through courage; all its different regions and climates, display more Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 237, 238. Hennep. Mœurs des Sauv. p. 59. h See NOTE XIV. Charlev. Hist. N. Fr. iii. 238. 307. Biet, 381. Lafitau Mœurs des Sauv. ii. 248. Charlev. iii. 376. See NOTE XV. IV. craft than boldness in carrying on their hostilities. B O O K Struck with this conduct, so opposite to the ideas and maxims of Europeans, several authors contend that it flows from a feeble and dastardly spirit peculiar to the Americans, which is incapable of any generous or manly exertion'. But when we reflect that many of these tribes, on occasions which call for extraordinary efforts, not only defend themselves with obstinate resolution, but attack their enemies with the most daring courage, and that they possess fortitude of mind superior to the sense of danger or the fear of death, we must ascribe their habitual caution to some other cause than constitutional timiditym. The number of men in each tribe is so small, the difficulty of rearing new members amidst the hardships and dangers of savage life so great, that the life of a citizen is extremely precious, and the preservation of it becomes a capital object in their policy. Had the point of honour been the same among the feeble American tribes as among the powerful nations of Europe, had they been taught to court fame or victory in contempt of danger and death, they must have been ruined by maxims so ill adapted to their condition. But wherever their communities are more populous, so that they can act with considerable force, and can sustain the loss of several of their members, without being sensibly weakened, the military operations of the Americans more nearly resemble 1 Recherches Philos. sur les Americ. i. 115. Voyage de March. iv. 410. m Lafitau Mœurs des Sauv. ii. 248, 249. Charlev. N. Fr. iii. |