place and time by word of mouth. Guests on
these occasions were expected to bring their own dish and spoon.

In spite of repugnance, Wawatam, to save his life and that of Henry,
was obliged to go. He returned after an absence of half an hour,
bringing back in his dish the portion given to him--a human hand and a
large piece of flesh. His objection to eat this gruesome food was
apparently not very deep or persistent. He excused the custom by
saying that amongst all Amerindian nations there existed this practice
of making a war feast from out of the bodies of the slain after a
successful battle.

Soon after this episode of horror the Ojibwes abandoned Fort
Michili-Makinak, for fear the English should come to attack it. Henry
was hidden by his adopted brother, Wawatam, in a cave, where he found
himself by the light of the next morning sleeping on a bed of human
bones, which the night before he had taken to be twigs and boughs. The
whole of the cave was, in fact, filled with these human remains. No
one knew or remembered the reason. Henry thought that the cave had
been an ancient receptacle for the bones of persons who had been
sacrificed and devoured at war feasts; for, however contemptuous they
may be of the flesh, the Amerindians paid particular attention
to the bones of human beings--whether friends, relations, or
enemies--preserving them unbroken, and depositing them in some
place kept exclusively for that purpose.

The great chief of the Ojibwes, however, advised that Henry, who had
rejoined Wawatam, should be dressed in disguise as an Indian to save
him from any further harm, for the natives all round about were
preparing for what they believed to be an inevitable war with the
English.

"I could not but consent to the proposal, and the chief was so kind as
to assist my friend and his family in effecting that very day the
desired metamorphosis. My hair was cut off, and my head shaved, with
the exception of a spot on the crown, of about twice the diameter of a
crown piece. My face was painted with three or four different colours;
some parts of it red, and others black. A shirt was provided for me,
painted with vermilion, mixed with grease. A large collar of wampum[5]
was put round my neck, and another suspended on my breast. Both my
arms were decorated with large bands of silver above the elbow,
besides several smaller ones on the wrists; and my legs were covered
with _mitasses_, a kind of hose, made, as is the f