e cabbin,
to the very last man inclusively.

This ceremony of thanksgiving being over by the men, the girls and women
come in, with the oldest at the head of them, who carries in her left
hand a great piece of birch-bark of the hardest, upon which she strikes
as it were a drum; and to that dull sound which the bark returns, they
all dance, spinning round on their heels, quivering, with one hand
lifted, the other down: other notes they have none, but a guttural loud
aspiration of the word Heh! Heh! Heh! as often as the old female savage
strikes her bark-drum. As soon as she ceases striking, they set up a
general cry, expressed by Yah! Then, if their dance is approved, they
begin it again; and when weariness obliges the old woman to withdraw,
she first pronounces her thanksgiving in the name of all the girls and
women there. The introduction of which is too curious to omit, as it so
strongly characterises the sentiments of the savages of that sex, and
confirms the general observation, that where their bosom once harbours
cruelty, they carry it greater lengths than even the men, whom
frequently they instigate to it.

"You men! who look on me as of an infirm and weak sex, and consequently
of all necessity subordinate to you, know that in what I am, the Creator
has given to my share, talents and properties at least of as much worth
as your's, I have had the faculty of bringing into the world warriors,
great hunters, and admirable managers of canoes. This hand, withered as
you see it now, whose veins represent the root of a tree, has more than
once struck a knife into the hearts of the prisoners, who were given up
to me for my sport. Let the river-sides, I say, for I call them to
witness for me, as well as the woods of such a country, attest their
having seen me more than once tear out the heart, entrails, and tongue,
of those delivered up to me, without changing color, roast pieces of
their flesh, yet palpitating and warm with life, and cram them down the
throats of others, whom the like fate awaited. With how many scalps have
not I seen my head adorned, as well as those of my daughters! With what
pathetic exhortations have not I, upon occasion, rouzed up the spirit of
our young men, to go in quest of the like trophies, that they might
atchieve the reward, honor, and renown annexed to the acquisition of
them: but it is not in these points alone that I have signalized myself.
I have often brought about alliances, which there