Curiosities of Savage LifeBeeton, 1863 - 418 pages |
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Abyssinian Africa animal appearance arms bamboo bark Beeton's Book bird Bitara body Bouda bride buffalo Caffre calabash called cannibal canoe carried ceremony chief child cloth cocoa-nut Coloured Illustrations cooked covered dance Dayaks death Dictionary of Universal dogs drink drum eyes father feast feet Figian fire friends hand handsomely bound Harrison Weir head hole killed king krch legs maize Majapahit Mandan marriage meat medicine medicine bag Monthly mother mouth natives never night Ojibbeway palm palm oil palm wine party person piece pipe pipe-stem poor present Price priest Robert Drury round Samoan savage scalp shoulders side skin smoke sometimes soon spear spirit sticks stone Talanga thou tion took tree tribe turtle village warriors whole wife wigwam WILD SPORTS woman women wood young Zealand
Popular passages
Page 329 - Every man, woman, or child in Indian communities is allowed to enter any one's lodge, and even that of the chief of the nation, and eat when they are hungry, provided misfortune or necessity has driven them to it.
Page 329 - ... amongst the wild Indians in this country there are no beggars — no drunkards — and every man, from a beautiful natural precept, studies to keep his body and mind in such a healthy shape and condition as will at all times enable him to use his weapons in self-defence, or struggle for the prize in their manly games.
Page 330 - ... forward, they squat entirely down to the ground, inclining both feet either to the right or the left. In this position they always rest while eating, and it is both modest and graceful, for they seem, with apparent ease, to assume the position and rise out of it, without using their hands in any way to assist them. These women, however, although graceful and civil, and ever so beautiful or ever so hungry, are not allowed to sit in the same group with the men while at their meals. So far as I...
Page 121 - ... until the blood could be seen trickling down over his naked shoulders, upon which he instantly dismounted, and placed the bridle and whip in his hands, saying, ' Here, you are a beggar ; I present you a horse, but you will carry my mark on your back.
Page 115 - ... The Great Spirit at an ancient period here called the Indian nations together, and, standing on the precipice of the red pipestone rock, broke from its wall a piece, and made a huge pipe by turning it in his hand, which he smoked over them, and to the north, the south, the east, and the west, and told them that this stone was red, that it was their flesh, that they must use it for their pipes of peace, that it belonged to them all, and that the war-club and scalping-knife must not be raised on...
Page 370 - They are total strangers to domestic happiness. The men have several wives, but conjugal affection is little known. They take no great care of their children, and never correct them except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them by severe usage. In a quarrel between father and mother, or the several wives of a husband, the defeated party wreaks his or her vengeance on the child of the conqueror, which in general loses its life.
Page 37 - ... for which he was destined, would have so impaired his health and affected his imagination as to have sent him to his long sleep, out of the way of any more sufferings. — Probably this would have been the case with the major part of white people under similar circumstances...
Page 377 - I pulled out the spear at once from Mr. Kennedy's back, and cut out the jag with Mr. Kennedy's knife: then Mr. Kennedy got his gun and snapped, but the gun would not go off. The blacks sneaked all along by the trees, and speared Mr. Kennedy again in the right leg above the knee a little, and I got speared...
Page 117 - Indians procure the red stone for their pipes, by digging through the soil and several slaty layers of the red stone, to the depth of four or five feet.* From the very numerous marks of ancient and modern diggings or excavations, it would appear that this place has been for many centuries resorted to for the red stone; and from the great number of graves and remains of ancient fortifications in its vicinity, it would seem, as well as from their actual traditions, that the Indian tribes have long...
Page 37 - ... off, and plunged into the water, swimming underneath like an otter, only rising to take breath, till he reached the opposite shore. He now ascended the steep bank, but though he had good reason to be in a hurry, as many of the enemy were in the water, and others running...