r knives were sharpened bone; their war-clubs were formed
of wood, cut into different shapes, and armed with sharp stones; and
their tomahawks, or hatchets, were of the same materials: but now,
many of their weapons, such as hatchets, spear-heads, and knives, are
made of iron, being procured from the whites, in exchange for the
skins they obtain in the chase. A scalping-knife is oftentimes no more
than a rudely formed butcher's knife, with one edge, and the Indians
wear them in beautiful scabbards under their belts.

_Austin._ How does an Indian scalp his enemy?

_Hunter._ The hair on the crown of the head is seized with the left
hand; the knife makes a circle round it through the skin, and then the
hair and skin together, sometimes with the hand, and sometimes with
the teeth, are forcibly torn off! The scalp may be, perhaps, as broad
as my hand.

_Brian._ Terrible! Scalping would be sure to kill a man, I suppose.

_Hunter._ Not always. Scalps are war trophies, and are generally
regarded as proofs of the death of an enemy; but an Indian, inflamed
with hatred and rage, and excited by victory, will not always wait
till his foe has expired before he scalps him. The hair, as well as
the scalp, of a fallen foe is carried off by the victorious Indian,
and with it his clothes are afterwards ornamented. It is said, that,
during the old French war, an Indian slew a Frenchman who wore a wig.
The warrior stooped down, and seized the hair for the purpose of
securing the scalp. To his great astonishment, the wig came off,
leaving the head bare. The Indian held it up, and examining it with
great wonder, exclaimed, in broken English, "Dat one big lie."

_Brian._ How the Indian would stare!

_Basil._ He had never seen a wig before, I dare say.

_Hunter._ The arms of Indians, offensive and defensive, are, for the
most part, those which I have mentioned--the club, the tomahawk, the
bow and arrow, the spear, the shield and the scalping-knife. But the
use of fire-arms is gradually extending among them. Some of their
clubs are merely massy pieces of hard, heavy wood, nicely fitted to
the hand, with, perhaps, a piece of hard bone stuck in the head part;
others are curiously carved into fanciful and uncouth shapes; while,
occasionally, may be seen a frightful war-club, knobbed all over with
brass nails, with a steel blade at the end of it, a span long.

_Austin._ What a terrible weapon, when wielded by a savage!

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