Among the natives of America, the love of ornament and show, which is the favourite passion of European women, is confined almost exclusively to the males. The decorations of the females are few as well as shn ple; and in a state of society, where they are looked upon as no better than beasts of burden, they have hardly any motive to adorn their persons. The women of South America, in particular, dress their hair in the style of what is called the urcu, a word which, among them, de notes elevation. It consists in throwing the hair for ward from the crown of the head upon the brow; and in bringing it round from the ears to the parts above the eye; so that the forehead and eve-brows are com pletely hid. In many of the northern regions a similar custom prevails. The rest of the hair is tied behind, in one and the same manner throughout the whole of the American continent ; and with an uniformity so exact, that this circumstance has been thought to countenance the opinion of such writers as ascribe a common origin to all the people of the western hemisphere.
The rudest tribes, and those who are least acquainted with ornament, arc, however, far from being satisfied with the attention of nature to the beauty of their per sons.
They mould the heads of their children, as soon as they are born, into a variety' of shapes, and press them, in one instance, into the figure of a cone; and in ano ther, into that of a square. They extend the ears and the nose by different processes; and in some districts, they apply tight bandages to the calves of the legs, in order to increase their size and deformity. (Oviedo, Hist. lib. iii. c. 5. Gunzilla, i. 197, et seq.) And such is the obstinacy of the Indians in these perverse attempts, to derange the plans of nature, or improve upon her \yolks, that the children frequently die in consequence of the violent treatment which incorrect notions of beauty have doomed them to endure.
From the dress of the American savage, we are led, in the natural progress of enquiry, to attend to his habi tation. With him, indeed, this seems to be an object of very little thought or care. War being his chief con cern, he paints and adorns himselt with no other view than to exhibit his military character, and support his pretensions to warlike fame ; and he is indifferent about the enjoyment of peaceful or domestic life. While he is most anxious to decorate his person, he is altogether unmindful of the convenience or neatness of his hut. Some of the American Indians have no houses at all ; but roam, during the day, from place to place, and retire under thick trees, from the heat of the sun ; while in the night, they shelter themselves with hraltelt_s and leaves from the inclemency of the weather. W Len lute rainy season approaches, they withdraw into eaves, and sel dom venture from them, unless they art compelled by hunger to quit thc ir retreat. 'rim people of Cinaiott, a pro.. ince of California," says Ribas, " as they have no habitations to affol d them shelter, gather bundles of reeds or strong grass, and binding them together at one ^nd, they open them at the other ; and fitting them to their heads, they arc covered as with a large cap, which, like a penthouse, throws off the rain, and will keep them dry for several hours. During tIne warm season, they form a shed with the branches of trees, which protects them from the sultry rays of the sun. When exposed to cold, they make large fires, round which they sleep in the open 'air." (Ilistoria de Is Traimfihes, &c. p. 7.) Other tribes, more advanced than the Cinaloans, live in temporary huts, called ; these they erect with great expedition ; and as they are not provided with any domestic furniture, they abandon them without any con cern. Throughout the western continent, the habita tions of the savages are mean, raised only with a view to shelter, totally destitute of elegance, and close and filthy beyond all conception. They are in general so low, that the natives must creep on their hands and feet before they can enter them; and as they have no win dows, a large hole in the top serves at once to admit the light and the rain; and affords, at the same time, a pas sage for the smoke. Their domestic utensils arc few and awkward in the extreme. In some of the provinces
they have vessels of earthen ware ; but these are for the most part unknown; in others, they hollow a block of wood, and, filling it with water, cause the fluid to boil, by means of hot stones which they throw' into it. Instruments, rudely made of bone or of flint, are their substitutes for knives.
When their huts are so numerous as to constitute a ‘illage, they are placed without the least attention to regularity, and therefore no street can be perceived among them. According to Barrette, their aspect is melancholy and disagreeable ; the fields which surround hem have no gaiety, and every thing in their neigh bourhood is gloomy and savage. In most of the villa ges there are two houses of distinction ; that of the chief, and that in which the council of the nation is held ; though it often happens, that the elders and war riors assemble in the building appropriated to the leader of the tribe. Sometimes also large houses are con toted for the reception of different families, who live under the same roof, sit round the same fire, and have no separate apartments in w hich they eat or sleep. The women are therefore in common ; yet in these habita tions, where so many individuals are crowded together, the utmost concord prevails, and animosities and guar °Tiling are seldom to be met with ; a proof, that the In ..ians arc either much more gentle, or much more phlegmatic, than the natives of Europ or Asia.-1 or sonic particulars relating to the chain of lo. is winch have been discovered in North America, see Unto. The arms of the American Indians are chiclly those of an offensive kind ; they are prepared with considera ble ingenuity ; and when we remember that the savages in w hose hands they are found, are not only strangers to regular labour, but unacquainted with instruments of iron, our surprise at the neatness and efficacy of their weapons w ill be greatly increased. Their clubs arc large, often curiously wr.ii.,ht, and ornamented with shells. Their s tormed of wood, which they harden in the fire, or point with bone ; and these they throw with such dexterit), that the y rarely miss the object at which they aim. The Brasilian savages are remarkable for their skill in heaving the javelin. The bow and arrow, however, is the weapon which is most effectual, except ing the musket, in annoying- an enemy at a distance ; and accordingly it was used for that purpose in the an cient continent, by the rudest of its inhabitants, while arts were yet in the infancy of their improvement. In the western hemisphere too, this weapon is in gene ral use ; not indeed among those tribes which are least civilized ; for Piedrahita informs, that in some provinces, the bow is unknown ; (Conquista del Reyno, ix. 12.) hut among all the nations who derive any part of their subsistence from the chace. In the construction of this instrument no little ingenuity is shewn. It is often composed of three pieces very nicely and exactly joined together; these pieces, among the North Americans, are commonly of fir or larch ; but as this wood has nei ther sufficient strength nor elasticity, they stiffen the thicker part of the bow with lines made of the sinews of their deer; and moistening it in water, to make it draw more powerfully, they shoot with great and effect. But the weapon most generally used by the savages of the New World, is the hatchet or tomahawk. With this dreadful and fatal instrument in their hands, they rush upon their enemies, and put them to death. It is usually made of stone, and furnished with an edge and a point ; thought its appearance varies considerably in the different regions of America. In all of them, how ever, a single hatchet is of great value, as it is not form ed without much labour and care. To this list of wea pons, which the ingenuity of man has invented, and his diligence has prepared for the purposes of destruction, we must add another: for the Indians of North America have been supplied by the Europeans with the musket; and the effects of gunpowder are experienced in all their engagements, and felt throughout the forests with which their country abounds.