ly concludes the treaty. The negotiations consist more in
presents, speeches, and ceremonies, than in any demands upon each other;
there is no property to provide tribute, and the victors rarely or never
require the formal cession of any of the hunting-grounds of the
vanquished. The unrestrained passions of individuals, and the satiety of
long continued peace, intolerable to the Indian, soon again lead to the
renewal of hostility.

The successful hunter ranks next to the brave warrior in the estimation
of the savage. Before starting on his grand expeditions, he prepares
himself by a course of fasting, dreaming, and religious observances, as
if for war. He hunts with astonishing dexterity and skill, and regards
this pursuit rather as an object of adventure and glory than as an
industrious occupation.

With regard to cultivation and the useful arts, the Indians are in the
very infancy of progress.[283] Their villages are usually not less than
eighteen miles apart, and are surrounded by a narrow circle of
imperfectly-cleared land, slightly turned up with a hoe, or scraped with
pointed sticks,[284] scarcely interrupting the continuous expanse of
the forest. They are only acquainted with the rudest sorts of clay
manufactures, and the use of the metals (except by European
introduction) is altogether unknown.[285] Their women, however, display
considerable skill in weaving fine mats, in staining the hair of
animals, and working it into brilliant colored embroideries. The wampum
belts are made with great care and some taste. The calumet is also
elaborately carved and ornamented; and the painting and tattooing of
their bodies sometimes presents well-executed and highly descriptive
pictures and hieroglyphics. They construct light and elegant baskets
from the swamp cane, and are very skillful in making bows and arrows;
some tribes, indeed, were so rude as not to have attained even to the
use of this primitive weapon, and the sling was by no means generally
known.

Most of the American nations are without any fixed form of government
whatever. The complete independence of every man is fully recognized. He
may do what he pleases of good or evil, useful or destructive, no
constituted power interferes to thwart his will. If he even take away
the life of another, the by-standers do not interpose. The kindred of
the slain, however, will make any sacrifice for vengeance. And yet, in
the communities of these children of nature there us