he returns with his white head painfully bowed under a back-load
of knaggy limbs, and his bare bronzed bowlegs moving on with that
catlike softness and evenness of the Indian, but so slowly that
he scarcely seems to get on at all."[1005] An old squaw, who had
been abandoned by her children because she was blind, was found
wandering in the mountains of California.[1006] "Filial piety
cannot be said to be a distinguishing quality of the Wailakki, or
any Indians. No matter how high may be their station, the aged
and decrepit are counted a burden. The old man, hero of a hundred
battles, when his skill with the bow and arrow is gone, is
ignominiously compelled to accompany his sons into the forest,
and bear home on his shoulders the game they have killed."[1007]
Catlin describes his leave-taking of an old Ponca chief who was
being deserted by the tribe with a little food and water, a
trifling fire, and a few sticks. The tribe were driven on by
hunger. The old chief said: "My children, our nation is poor, and
it is necessary that you should all go to the country where you
can get meat. My eyes are dimmed and my strength is no more.... I
am a burden to my children. I cannot go. Keep your hearts stout
and think not of me. I am no longer good for anything."[1008]
This is the fullest statement we can quote, attributed to one of
the abandoned old men, of the view of the proceeding which could
make him acquiesce in it. The victims do not always take this
view of the matter. This custom was common to all the tribes
which roamed the prairies. Every one who lived to decrepitude
knew that he must expect it. A more recent authority says that
Poncas and Omahas never left the aged and infirm on the prairie.
They were left at home, with adequate supplies, until the hunting
party returned.[1009] That shows that they had a settled home and
their cornfields are mentioned in the context. The old watched
the cornfields, so that they were of some use. By the law of the
Incas the old, who were unfit for other work, drove birds from
the fields, and they were kept at public cost, like the
disabled.[1010] The Hudson's Bay Eskimo strangle the old who are
dependent on others for their food, or leave them to perish when
the camp is moved. They move in order to get rid of burdensome
old people without executing them.[1011] The central Eskimo kill