The dances among the Indians are many and various, and to each of them there is a particular hoop.[1]
| 1. The calumet dance. | 7. The prisoner's dance. |
| 2. The war dance. | 8. The return dance. |
| 3. The chief's dance. | 9. The spear dance. |
| 4. The set out dance. | 10. The marriage dance. |
| 5. The scalp dance. | 11. The sacrifice dance. |
| 6. The dead dance. |
All these I was perfect master of, frequently leading the sett. If accidentally a stranger came among us, (unless I chose to be noticed) no one could distinguish me from the Indians.
Presuming on my appearing exactly like a Savage, I occasionally went down in a canoe to Montreal, and frequently passed the posts as an Indian. Sometimes I would distinguish myself at a charivari, which is a custom that prevails in different parts of Canada, of assembling with old pots, kettles, &c. and beating them at the doors of new married people; but generally, either when the man is older than the woman, or the parties have been twice married: in those cases they beat a charivari, hallooing out very vociferously, until the man is obliged to obtain their silence by pecuniary contribution, or submit to be [36] abused with the vilest language. Charivari, in French, means a paltry kind of music, which I suppose is the origin of the custom.
Not content with being a proficient in their sports, I learnt to make a canoe, bark a tree for the purpose, and perform the whole business as regular as the natives. I also made makissins, or Indian shoes, of deer skins, drest and smoked to make the leather soft and pliable,
- ↑ On the subject of Indian dances see Jesuit Relations, index. Also Grant, in Mason, Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, ii, pp.335-337.—Ed.
