The book of woodcraft and Indian lore - Survival-training.info

The Spartans of the West 27I have seen scores of them. Clark says they were " conmionto all tribes," (p. 365). Every old-timer knows that theywere in daily use by the Indians and scoffed at by the whitesettlers who, indeed, were Uttle given to bathing of any kind.CHASTITYAbout one hundred years ago the notorious whiskeytrader,Alexander Henry, already mentioned, went intothe Missouri region.He was a man of strange character,of heroic frame and mind, but unscrupulous and sordid.His only interest and business among the Indians wasbeating them out of their furs with potations of cheapalcohol. This fearless ruffian penetrated the far Northwest,was the first trader to meet certain Western tribes,and strange to tell he wrote a full, straightforward andshocking account of his wanderings and methods among thered folk he despised for not being white. In spite of arroganceand assimied superiority, his narrative containsmuch like the following:"TheFlatheads on the Buffalo Plains, generally encounter thePiegans and fight desperately when attacked. They neverattempt war themselves, and have the character of a brave andvirtuous people, not in the least addicted to those vices socommon among savages who have had long intercourse withEiuropeans.Chastity is particularly esteemed, and no womanwill barter her favors, even with the whites, upon any mercenaryconsideration. She may be easily prevailed uponto reside with a white man as his wife, according to the customof the country, but prostitution is out of the question —she wUllisten to no proposals of that nature. Their morals have notyet been sufficiently debauched and corrupted by an intercoursewith people who call themselves Christians, but whose licentiousand lecherous manners are far worse than those of savages. Astriking example is to be seen throughout the N. W. country, ofthe depravity and wretchedness of the natives; but as one