the house of their leader,
remaining without, and standing round his red war-pole, until they
determine concerning the fate of their prisoner. If any prisoner should
be fortunate enough to break from his pinions, and escape into the house
of the chief medicine man, or conductor of the powow, it is an
inviolable asylum, and by immemorial usage, the refugee is saved from
the fire.

Captives far advanced in life, or such as had been known to have shed
the blood of their tribe, were sure to atone for their decrepitude, or
past activity in shedding blood, by being burnt to death. They readily
know those Indians who have killed many, by the blue marks on their
breasts and arms, which indicate the number they have slain. These
hieroglyphics are to them as significant as our alphabetical characters.
The ink with which these characters are impressed, is a sort of
lampblack, prepared from the soot of burning pine, which they catch by
causing it to pass through a sort of greased funnel. Having prepared
this lampblack, they tattoo it into the skin, by punctures made with
thorns or the teeth of fish. The young prisoners, if they seem capable
of activity and service, and if they preserve an intrepid and unmoved
countenance, are generally spared, unless condemned to death by the
party, while undergoing the purification specified above. As soon as
their case is so decided, they are tied to the stake, one at a time. A
pair of bear-skin moccasins, with the hair outwards, are put on their
feet. They are stripped naked to the loins, and are pinioned firmly to
the stake.

Their subsequent punishment, in addition to the suffering of slow fire,
is left to the women. Such are the influences of their training, that
although the female nature, in all races of men, is generally found to
be more susceptible of pity than the male, in this case they appear to
surpass the men in the fury of their merciless rage, and the industrious
ingenuity of their torments. Each is prepared with a bundle of long,
dry, reed cane, or other poles, to which are attached splinters of
burning pine. As the victim is led to the stake, the women and children
begin their sufferings by beating them with switches and clubs; and as
they reel and recoil from the blows, these fiendish imps show their
gratification by unremitting peals of laughter; too happy, if their
tortures ended here, or if the merciful tomahawk brought them to an
immediate close.

The signal for a more