Europeans make use of
tomahawks, knives, and fire-arms; but those whose dwellings are situated
to the eastward of the Mississippi, and who have not an opportunity of
purchasing these kinds of weapons, use bows and arrows and also the
Casse-Tete or War-Club.

The Indians who inhabit the country which extends from the Rocky
Mountains to the South Sea, use in fight a warlike instrument that is
very uncommon. Having great plenty of horses, they always attack their
enemies on horse-back, and encumber themselves with no other weapon than
a stone of middling size, curiously wrought, which they fasten, by a
string about a yard and a half long, to their right arms, a little above
the elbow. These stones they conveniently carry in their hands till they
reach their enemies, and then, swinging them with great dexterity as
they ride full speed, never fail of doing execution. Some of these
western tribes make use of a javelin, pointed with bone, worked into
different forms; but their general weapons are bows and arrows, and
clubs. The club is made of a very hard wood, and the head of it
fashioned round like a ball, about three inches and a half in diameter.
In this rotund part is fixed an edge resembling that of a tomahawk,
either of steel or flint. The dagger is peculiar to the Naudowessie
nation. It was originally made of flint or bone, but since they have had
communication with the European traders they have formed it of steel.
The length of it is about ten inches, and that part close to the handle
nearly three inches broad. Its edges are keen, and it gradually tapers
towards a point. They wear it in a sheath made of deer leather, neatly
ornamented with porcupine quills; and it is usually hung by a string
decorated in the same manner, which reaches as low as the breast.

Among the Delawares the offensive weapons formerly in use were bows,
arrows, and clubs. The latter were made of the hardest wood, not quite
the length of a man's arm, and very heavy, with a large round knob at
one end. For other descriptions of Indian weapons of war, see Long,
Loskiel, and Mackenzie--especially the latter.

(3)_Since he chewed the bitter root, and put on the new mocassins._--p.
6.

The ceremony of initiation into manhood is one of the most important
that occurs among the Indians, and displays in a remarkable degree the
power which superstition has acquired over their minds. It varies
essentially among the different tribes, but the following d