The result, of course, was to leave their
limbs and features horribly scarred when they healed up. In some
tribes, however, a young man could not obtain--or retain--a wife
unless he had shown his bravery by submitting to this mutilation.
Women often cut off one or more joints of their fingers to show their
grief for the death of children.
In some tribes, especially of the far north-west and of the Rocky
Mountains, the personal habits of men and women, or of the women only,
were so filthy, and their dislike to bathing so pronounced, that they
became objects of loathing to white men; in other tribes personal
cleanliness was highly esteemed, especially on the seacoast of British
Columbia or along the banks of the great rivers. Usually the men were
better looking and better developed than the women--for one reason,
because they were better fed.
Here is a description by PETER GRANT--a pioneer of the North-West
Company--of the Ojibwe Indians dwelling near the east end of Lake
Superior at the beginning of the nineteenth century:--
"Their complexion is a whitish cast of copper colour, their hair
black, long, straight, and of a very strong texture. The young men
allow several locks of the hair to fall down over the face, ornamented
with ribbons, silver brooches, &c. They gather up another lock from
behind the head into a small clump, and wrap it up with very thin
plates of silver, in which they fix the tail feathers of the eagle or
any other favourite bird with the wearing of which they have
distinguished themselves in war.
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