From causes similar to those which hale kd the Ame rican Indians to indulge in strong liquors, we may de duce their immoderate love of play. Games of chance are frequent among the rude inhabitants of the western continent. A strong inclination to these amusements w ill always be found to exist where rc gular industry is either net known, or Int practised; and it is because they have little else to occupy their thoughts, that the rich and the idle, in civilized countries, have recourse to the pastimes which we are now considering, and de vote so much of their attention to them. Both the sa vage of America, and the polite European, feel the dif ficulty of spending their time with satishiction ; and both run with eagerness to those exercises which engage the mind without fatiguing its powers. The Indians, so phlegmatic and indifferent On other occasions, become interested, violent, and almost frantic with keenness, when they engage in play. Like the ancient Germans, they will stake their arms, their clothes, and even their liberty, more to them than any possession, on a single throw of the dice. Travellers have observed them retire from the gaining table, even in the coldest regions, destitute of every thing which could protect them from the inclemency of the weather. The spec tators appear to bo equally interested and keen with those who are principally concerned ; and the practice of betting is frequent. But among the savages of Ame rica, gaming is not an amusement only, it is often per formed as a religious duty. For it happens not mitre quently, that When a tribe is wasted by pestilence or by famine, the conjurors ordain a solemn match by play, as a method effectual at once to propitiate the gods whom they worship, and to stop the progress of disease.
It is an observation of Leibnitz, that the human ge nius appears more early in the invention oh games, than in any other department whatever. To the truth of this observation, the savages of America form no exception. Their games are either sedentary or gymnastic. Of the former kind, the list is very numerous; and in many of the species, a wonderful degree of ingenuity is display ed. Among some tribes, whose improvement in other respects may be considered as yet in embryo, the game of chess has been long known and practised ; they are not unacquainted with backgammon ; and entertain ments of a similar description, and to which the Euro peans are utter strangers, are common among them. The gymnastic exercises arc different in the different provinces. In some places the boys shoot their arrows at a hoop as it runs, and pierce it with amazing dexteri ty ; in others, the peuco, and palican, are the customary entertainments; the former of these representing the siege of a fortress, or the sacking of a village ; and the latter, a battle. See Long's Travels, p. 52. and Pinker ton's Geography, iii. 769.
It would be endless to mention all the customs which distinguish the savage tribes of the New World, from the inhabitants of the ancient continent, or from one another. We must therefore refer the reader to the books of travellers and missionaries, where his curiosity will he amply gratified. There are, however, two cus toms which we cannot pass over, and of which it will be proper to give a short, account.
The first of these is of a peculiar and awful nature.
In many provinces of the western hemisphere, the; In diain, Vise, at certain fixed and hallowed tunes, through out all their villages, and prepare themselves tor rt fes tival. it is w ith them au occasion of dreadful sol•m nity ; lor the hour is court WIICII they are to cek:brate the Feast of the Dead, the Feast of souls. The graves are opened, and each man of the tribe !ills front the earth the body of his parent or his friend, often dropping in putrefaction, and carries it to the place where the nation has been ordered to assemble. Here the corpses
are exposed to view ; the air is filled with mournful cries and sad bewailing; a dance is begun, now solemn and slow, and now diversified by irregular movements ; the performers cutting themselves with knives, and the blood streaming from different parts of their bodies. A lire is then kindled, the bones of the dead are bum, and their ashes, being mingled with the drink of the survivors, are swallowed with greediness and satisfac tion. This is the general way in which the Indians celebrate the Feast of the Dead; but in some provinces a large pit is dug, and the carcasses, alter being exposed for a definite time, are buried in a common receptacle. See Lafitau, From what principle this extraordinary usage is de rived, those who have had opportunities of visiting time American continent, have out hill/111a US. It has been ascribed to a peculiar warmth of attachment which the Indians are supposed to have for their friends ; but that feeling of independence which th savages of the west ern hemisphere cherish as their greatest and noblest honour, prevents them from yielding to the calls of be nevolence, and renders the union between man and man exceedingly slight. An Indian can neither stoop to per form an action by which his fellows alone are benefited, nor can he endure the weight of gratitude, for benefits which are conferred upon himself'. Ile lives attached rather to his tribe, than to any one of its members. The solemnity above mentioned ought therefore to be de duced from some other principle than the strength of Friendship among the natives of America. It is probably connected with their religion ; but we are yet too little acquainted with the varieties of superstition, existing anionp.; the Indians, to say with accuracy, from what part of their belief it takes its rise.
The second of the practices to which we referred is equally uncommon, and bears an aspect of a different kind. It seems, at first sight, to imply an extraordinary degree of crueltetowards those whom nature enjoins us to respect and to solace. When the parents, or rela tions, of the American savages become old and oppress ed with infirmities, instead of cherishing and comforting them, as humanity would require, they put them to death, in order to be relieved from the trouble of sup porting them.' They commit the same act of violence as often as their friends are attacked by any disease, which their partial knowledge of medicine renders them unable to cure. This practice was general among all the less cultivated tribes, from Hudson's Bay to the Rio de la Plata, where these tribes were first visited by the Europeans ; and however opposite it may be to the natural feelings and attachments of man, the hard con dition of the savage life reconciles him to it. As a tribe 01 hunters cannot rear many children, because they are unable to provide for them ; so they cannot support any loth idual who contributes nothing by his own exertions to their maintenance and security. The old man is as helpless and as useless as the child ; the community are as unable to procure food tor the one, as for the other. The old men cannot endure the fatigues of war, or the toils of the chase ; and they regard it as an act of mercy when then days are shortened by the hands of their friends. The old Indian, of his free choice, places him sell in the grave which he has ordered to be dug ; and it is his son, or his nearest relative, that he invites to pull the thong, or inflict the blo•, which terminates his existence. Cassani, 1118t. dr Ia de Comp. de Jesus 11,1 Survo k•yno de Granada, p. 300. Piso, p. G.