r children will dance before your tent. It is
thus we honour the brave. It is thus we honour the stranger."

To this speech, M. Verdier returned a suitable answer, adapting his
words to their simple comprehension, yet using the metaphorical style so
common among them. He was glad, he told them, that "words of peace were
in their mouths; that there was a mild sky, and that the winds were low.
He wished it was always so."

They heard him without giving any tokens of approbation, for it is very
uncommon for the Indian to bestow such upon an orator. When he had
finished his speech, their wild dances commenced by the striking up of
their instrumental and vocal music. The instruments were a gong made of
a large keg, over one of the ends of which was stretched a skin which
was struck by a small stick, and an instrument consisting of a stick of
firm wood, notched like a saw, over the teeth of which a smaller stick
was rubbed forcibly backward and forward. They had besides rattles made
of strings of deer's hoofs, and also parts of the intestines of an
animal inflated, inclosing small stones, which produced a sound like
pebbles in a small gourd. With these, rude as they were, very good time
was preserved with the vocal performers, seated around them, and by all
the natives as they sat, in the inflection of their bodies, or the
movements of their limbs. After the lapse of a little time, three
individuals leaped up and danced around for a few minutes; then, at a
concerted signal from the master of the ceremonies, the music ceased,
and they retired to their seats uttering a loud noise, which, by patting
the mouth rapidly with the hand, was broken into a succession of sounds,
somewhat like the hurried barking of a dog. In the intervals of dancing,
a warrior would step forward, and, striking the flagstaff they had
erected with a stick or a whip, would recount his martial deeds. This
ceremony was called _striking the post_, and whatever was then said
might be relied upon as truth, for the custom bound every warrior to
expose the falsehood of the _striker_, and disgrace him for
exaggeration if he indulged in it.

A tall, grey-headed chief rose, and, after lashing the post with his
whip, commenced the narration of his exploits. He was succeeded by a
young and ardent warrior, whose soul apparently was full of poetry, and
burning with love of martial glory. After walking leisurely twice or
thrice around the post, he quickened his st