husband’s servitor; that she is, in many cases, the humiliated drudge,
in all, the humble attendant on her master; that she waits on him in
submissive silence while he eats, and approaches him with the deference
due from an inferior to a superior being. Those who infer, however,
from these circumstances that the sentiments of conjugal, filial, and
parental affection are unknown to the Indian race, think erroneously
of them. Strong and tender attachments continually spring up between
the sexes. The lover sings of the girl he has chosen, and takes her
home with the delight of gratified affection. The husband, too, when
he devolves upon his wife all the labours of the wigwam, is no more
conscious that he is using her harshly than she is that she occupies an
unnatural position. Ideas and sentiments are often no more than things
of habit, and with the Indian chief strong love is not inconsistent
with his walking in lordly indolence along the forest path while
she is bearing the heavy wigwam poles behind. Heckewelder relates a
singular instance of indulgence, which, it must be confessed, is rare
among the barbarians of North America. There was a scarcity in the
district inhabited by a certain tribe, and an Indian woman, being
sick, expressed a strong desire for a mess of Indian corn. Her husband
having been told that a trader at Lower Sandarsky had a little, set
off on horseback for that place, a hundred miles distant, gave his
steed in exchange for a hatful of grain, returned home on foot, and
gratified his wife by the treat he had thus procured. It is seldom that
the most polished society presents a similar instance of kindliness.
Many pictures of domestic happiness are exhibited among the Indians.
The Blackfeet, Sanee, and Blood Indians, reckon it among their chief
desires that their wives may live long and look young. Smoke sometimes
rises for forty years from the same hearth, with one couple presiding
over it. On the other hand, the husband’s infidelity or harshness
sometimes drives his wife to suicide, for the woman has no protector.
The life of hardship they lead soon strips them of all their personal
beauty, when they are entirely consigned to toil. In spite of this,
they are well fed, healthy, and robust, unlike the women of Australia
who are stinted in food, and often deformed or crippled by the severity
of their labour. Nature has been very indulgent to them. Scarcely any
have more than five, and few more than three children. Easy travail
takes away one affliction from their lot. The pains of delivery are
seldom prolonged for more than a quarter of an hour, and she who groans
under the acutest pang is prophesied, with a taunt, to be the mother
of cowards. Death, however, occasionally ensues. The Indian mother
loves her children dearly, never trusting it to a hireling nurse--which
indeed could not be found; for no woman would put away her own infant
to suckle another’s. Bearing the cradle on her back she performs her
daily task, and if she die the nursling is laid in her grave. One
curious and beautiful custom is that of carrying the cradle of a dead
nursling child for a whole year, and all are familiar with the story of
the Canadian mother bedewing the grave of her child with milk from her
bosom. Infanticide is a rare and secret crime, not by any means to be
enumerated among the characteristics of their manners.
Marriage among the North-American Indians is contracted for the
happiness and comfort of the man. He is bound to live with his wife
only so long as these are enjoyed. Adultery, indolence, intemperance,
and sterility are among the causes of divorce. It takes place without
formality by simple separation or desertion; and where there are no
children is very easy. Their offspring forms their most powerful
bond; for, where the mother is discarded, the unwritten law of the
red man allows her to keep the children whom she has borne or nursed.
The husband detecting his wife in adultery may cut off her nose, or
take off part of her scalp. He sometimes kills her with her paramour
at once; and the only blame attached to him on the occasion is,
descending from his dignity to feel so strongly the loss of one woman,
when another may easily be procured to supply her place.
The idea of chastity as a positive virtue is but feebly developed
among them. With the men, indeed, it is a Spartan quality, as opposed
to effeminacy; otherwise, the promiscuous sleeping of whole families
in the same chamber, with various other circumstances, would tend
much to immorality. Nevertheless, among some tribes, as that of the
Mandans, the women are delicate and modest; and in the wigwams of the
respectable families virtue is as cherished, and as unapproachable,
as anywhere in the world. Generally the Indians are decent, and, with
the exception of those customs which form the basis of their manners,
and result directly from their national character, might be won over
without difficulty to the amenities of civilized life. Many of the
squaws, of course, in North America, as elsewhere, are immodest, and
seek occasion to engage in an intrigue. With the unmarried girls the
same is the case. A bastard child may be born without entailing great
shame upon its mother, though the seducer is greatly despised; but such
an occurrence is rare, not altogether, however, because the females
are too chaste, but because they are too cautious, and employ means to
procure abortion. This practice is sometimes resorted to by the squaws,
though discountenanced by the men, except when they are on the march,
or hotly pressed by an enemy.
From a notice of their punishments in Hunter’s narrative of his
captivity, it would appear that the last act of depravity is not
unknown among the Indians. Adultery, he tells us, where not perpetrated
by the husband’s consent, is punishable with divorce. We might doubt
the testimony of this writer, but that Wilkes found Indians in the far
north, within the range of the Hudson’s Bay territories, who would
gamble away their wives, and prostitute them for money. These men he
believed to be degraded from their original condition, but various
authors speak of a similar practice. Carver relates that, among the
Manedowessis, it was a custom when a young woman could not get a
husband, for her to assemble all the chief warriors of the tribe in
a spacious wigwam, to give them a feast, and then, retiring behind a
screen, to prostitute herself to each in succession. This gained her
great applause, and always insured her a husband. It was, however,
nearly obsolete when he wrote, and appears now to be altogether
extinct.
Many of the Europeans dwelling on the Red River were accustomed to take
concubines during the period of their residence there. The Indians,
who are civilized, as it is called, in the provinces of Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, and Canada, have thus learned also the worst vices of
Europe. Maclean, a very recent writer, declares that the Christianized
tribes in the Hudson’s Bay territories have been deteriorated by
intercourse with the whites, become drunken, sensual, and depraved. The
venereal disease commits frightful ravages among them. Most of their
diseases arise from excess of one kind or another. He says that the men
employed by the Company are chiefly reconciled to their hard employment
and poor remuneration by the immorality of the women, of whom large
numbers follow the occupation of prostitutes, and sell themselves for
the vilest price. On the north-west coast, chastity is scarcely even
a name; indeed, there is no word in the language of the people to
express that idea. The sea tribes are, indeed, in all cases, the most
licentious; which appears to justify the remark, that intercourse with
a strange unsettled population has demoralized them.
At some parts of the coast where the trading ships touch for supplies,
hundreds of women come down, and, by an indecent display of their
persons, endeavour to obtain permission to go on board. When Sir George
Simpson arrived at one of these ports a man asked for the captain’s
wife, and offered his own in exchange. In that part of the country the
tyranny over the female sex is even more severe than in the interior.
When a man takes a wife, he purchases her as his perpetual property;
and if they separate, whether from an offence of hers or his, she must
never marry again. She usually takes to clandestine prostitution as a
means of living. But such instances as the foregoing are not confined
to the coast. In the interior the traveller may observe, wherever a
large concourse of Indians is assembled, a number of beautiful and
voluptuous-looking women continually mixing in the throng, and throwing
their glances upon strangers, or the single young men of the tribe. The
Indians have now been removed to a territory beyond the Mississippi;
and it is probable their corruption will rapidly increase in proportion
to their congregation.
One peculiar feature of the system, introduced of course since
Europeans visited the country, remains to be noticed. Many of the
white traders, among the tribes of the Upper Missouri, find it good
policy to connect themselves by marriage with powerful families, and
they procure then the most beautiful girls of the noblest tribes, who
aspire with delight to such a station, which usually elevates them
above their servile occupations to a life of indolence, ease, and
pleasure. These engagements, however, are scarcely marriages--at least
in the European sense of the term--ceremonies of any kind being seldom
performed. A large price in Indian estimation is paid for the girl, and
she is transferred at once to the trader’s house; with equal facility
he may annul the contract, leaving his companion to be candidate for
another mate, for which her father is not sorry, as he may procure
an additional horse again in exchange for her: this is no more than
a system of virtual prostitution, in which the woman is hired out as
a temporary companion, merely for the pecuniary gain. The trader may
procure the handsomest girl in the tribe for two horses; for a gun with
a supply of powder and ball; for five or six pounds of beads; for a
couple of gallons of whiskey; or a handful of awls. Such is the price
at which the Indian chief will prostitute his daughter. Occasionally,
it must be added, the couple thus united live together permanently
as man and wife, the possibility of which is, indeed, almost always
supposed.
The Indians of New Caledonia, though not belonging to the same stock
with the red race of North America, may be noticed here: they are
extremely profligate; the venereal disease is common among them;
and the blessing of a healthy climate is rendered nugatory by the
intemperance of the people. Among them, nevertheless, women are held
in more estimation than among the red tribes, for the men are not
possessed by that sense of lordly dignity which disdains at once to
become sensual, and to share the labours of the inferior sex. Women
assist in the councils, and those of high rank are even admitted to the
feasts. During the fishing season each sex is equally employed, and
so in all their other tasks. Lewdness could not be carried to greater
excess than it is among them: both men and women are addicted to the
vilest crimes; they abandon themselves in youth to the indulgence of
their most unbridled lust, and the country owes its rapid decrease of
population to the universal depravity of the people. No man marries
until his animal appetite is satiated upon the voluntary prostitutes
who abound, and then his wife, if dissatisfied with the restraints
of matrimony, may refuse to dwell with him; the union is consequently
broken by mutual consent, for a certain time or for ever. Meanwhile
they addict themselves to their former pleasures, but the woman is
nominally prohibited, by law, under pain of death, from cohabiting
with any man during this period of separation from her husband; he
seldom cares, however, to enforce his right, and she seldom fails to
break the law. Polygamy is allowed, but only one woman is actually a
wife--the rest are mere concubines; the chief one may be supplanted
by a new favourite, when the old one yields without a murmur, though
occasionally a woman of violent passions will destroy herself.
To illustrate the general subject of the condition of women among the
North-American Indians, we may notice an incident described by the
observant traveller Catlin. When, among the Sioux, he proposed to
paint the portrait of a woman, his condescension was regarded by the
warriors of the community first as incredible and then as ridiculous.
It appeared marvellous that he should think of conferring on the
females the same honour he had conferred on the medicine men and
braves; those whom he selected were laughed at by hundreds of others
who were, nevertheless, jealous of the distinction. The men who had
been painted said that if the artist was going to paint women and
children the sooner he destroyed their portraits the better; the women
had never taken scalps, never done anything but make fires and dress,
with other occupations equally servile: at length, he explained that
the portraits of the men were wanted to show the chiefs of the white
nation who were great and worthy among the Sioux nation, while the
women were only wanted to show how they looked and how they dressed:
by this means he attained his object. Mr. Catlin considers that, on
the whole, the Old World has no superior morality or virtue to hold
up as an example to the American Indian races. The degradation of the
women, however, is denied by none, though a woman of superior courage
or contrivance sometimes places herself above the degrading laws
which depress the rest of her sex. Thus one whom Catlin saw joined
boldly in a dance--though females are only allowed to join in a few
of these--played off great feats before the warriors, and for her
audacity no less than for her skill was greeted with thundering peals
of applause, besides a pile of gifts[62].
OF PROSTITUTION AMONG THE INDIANS OF SOUTH AMERICA.
The plan and purpose of this inquiry will by this time have become
obvious to every reader. It is to afford a comparative view of the
state of manners throughout the world, with reference to public morals,
the condition and the character of the female sex. We have chosen to
treat of the barbarians in a separate division of the inquiry, and
for this reason have left a large portion of Africa, and by far the
greatest portion of North America, for future pages. With respect
to South America, its various states will be classed among those
half-barbarous communities, which we shall take as the link between
the savage and the civilized portions of the globe; for, in spite of
the dreams in which some romantic travellers have indulged, Lima is
only fit to be compared with Algiers, and Brazil with Morocco. Leaving,
therefore, these half-caste societies, as we shall next turn to them in
a separate notice, we may briefly treat of the Indian race which still,
though in numbers awfully reduced, clings to its native soil in South
America.
A very brief description will suffice. Remembering the difference
of character between the Indian of the North and the Indian of the
South, we may, in most respects, apply our last notices to the present
subject. The barbarians with whom we have now to deal are not possessed
by that rigid masculine vanity which inspires them with a contempt not
only of the female sex, but of the pleasures they furnish to men of
more sensual temperaments and more effeminate mould. They have less
pride, but not more manliness than the Indians of the Red Race. There
is no comparison, in point of mental and moral character, between the
savage of the Brazilian forest and the stately Huron or Iroquois, or
the warrior of the Algonquin race.
Two classes of Indians exist in South America--the pure native, and
the breed corrupted by intercourse with Europeans, half-castes, and
the rest of that variety of colours which have been produced between
the white and the original tenant of the soil. The first is now an
exceedingly small family, and some accounts have represented it as
eminent for virtue and simplicity. We know that romantic pictures have
been drawn of the golden days when Montezuma reigned in the Valley
of Mexico, and gave laws to the free population of the country; but
sober research has dissipated the idea that he was the governor of a
civilized and polished nation. Superior, indeed, the Mexicans were to
the savages who occupied so large a portion of the New World, but they
were deficient in many of the arts, and gross in many of the manners
which assist in comparing the standard of a people’s progress. This
much has been ascertained, though it is little. At the present day, the
great characteristics of the barbarian state are strongly exhibited
in this as in other parts of South America. The miserable remnant of
the Indian race grows yearly more debased, learning little from its
European preceptors except profligacy and the coarsest arts of vice.
Throughout the region women are degraded. The men generally sleep and
lounge, or occupy themselves with easy tasks, but more from indolence
than pride, while the women perform the labours of the house and of the
field. Such is almost the universal practice of Indian manners in South
America. Instances of the contrary, indeed, there are. King found among
the Chedirrione tribes of the Argentine Republic, a primitive state of
society, no less innocent than simple. The women were modest, the men
kind to them, and labour was justly shared. All property was in common,
and the members of the community lived in perfect brotherhood. This,
however, is only one cheerful spot upon the surface of South-American
manners. In the Central Region the females are degraded, and chastity a
rare virtue. Women may bear children before marriage without shame, and
the intercourse of the sexes is unrestrained.
Among the Indians of Brazil a curious system of manners existed before
the establishment of European power, and many traces of it still exist.
No man might marry until he had killed an enemy. When a girl reached
the age of puberty her hair was cut off, her back tattooed, and she
wore a necklace of the teeth of wild beasts until her hair grew again.
Bands of cotton were fastened about her waist and the fleshy parts of
her arms, to signify her maidenhood. It was said that if any but a pure
virgin wore these emblems, the evil spirit would bear her away; but the
national belief was not sufficiently strong to render this a defence of
chastity, for it was lost without reproach or fear, and incontinence
was regarded as no offence. Sleeping in crowds, in large common
dormitories produced a pernicious effect on the people, destroyed all
ideas of decency, and caused universal lewdness. When a man tired of
his wife, he put her away and took another; indeed, as many as he
pleased. Although unrestrained polygamy was allowed, the first wife,
however, continued to enjoy some privileges, as having a separate berth
to sleep in, and a separate plot of ground to cultivate for her own
use. Nevertheless she was bitterly jealous of those who supplanted her,
and frequently, when altogether neglected by her husband, abandoned
herself altogether to vice, and became a clandestine prostitute to any
of the young men who would flatter or pay her for the favour.
Being regarded, more or less, as property, a man’s wives formed part of
his estate, and were bequeathed on his death to his brother or nearest
kinsman. The women thus procured were seldom treated with any delicacy
or consideration, yet they found sources of happiness, and were often
lively and gay to the last degree. When utterly miserable the female
sex does not delight to clothe itself in gaudy attire, or adorn itself
with sparkling trinkets, as in Brazil, where masculine vanity ran so
high that it declared certain ornaments to be the exclusive privilege
of men.
In the neighbouring regions there was some variety among the different
tribes. The Tyrinambas used their women fairly, though they somewhat
overloaded them with employment. They were, however, generally happy,
and were principally employed in spinning and weaving--for the
industrial arts had reached that stage among them. They also cultivated
the ground. On this subject a curious and not unpoetical idea prevailed
among some of the Indians of South America. It was, that as females
only bore children, so the grain planted by their hands would fructify
in a more plentiful increase than that sown by men. Female porters,
also, formed a considerable class.
In Paraguay the wars that spread havoc among the miserable people
gave rise to a flagitious custom, which destroyed the population more
rapidly than pestilence or the sword. No woman ever reared more
than one child. The difficulty of subsistence was one cause which
induced this custom. The practice of producing abortion was adopted in
preference to infanticide, since it inflicted a less violent shock on
the natural feelings of the woman. Remonstrated with upon the horror of
the crime, one mother replied that an infant was a great incumbrance,
that parturition took away from the grace of the figure, rendering
her less attractive to the men, and moreover that abortion was easier
than delivery. The manner of procuring it was singular. The woman lay
down on her back, and was beaten by two aged crones till the result
was certain. Many died in consequence of this barbarous process, while
others contracted a disease which afflicted them through life. Men
and women were equally debauched. Their gregarious habits afforded
unlimited opportunities for intrigue, and husbands cared little to
whom their wives prostituted themselves, though they regarded them
as absolute property, branding them on the thigh or bosom with a hot
iron as they did their horses. One peculiar custom obtained among
them--the married spoke in a dialect different from that employed by
the unmarried people.
Contrasted with this community was the Abifrone, a tribe inhabiting
the same region, more long-lived, healthy, and numerous, because
they were temperate and chaste. Morality was characteristic of them,
and prudence also. The men seldom or never married before the age of
thirty, or the women before that of twenty, and were usually continent
before contracting that engagement. A wife was purchased from her
parents, and was entirely at their disposal, unless bold enough to run
away. There was some poetry in the rite of marriage. If the suit was
accepted, eight maidens carried a canopy of fine tissue over the bride,
who walked in silence, and with downcast eyes, to her husband’s tent.
There he received her with signs of love; she then returned, bearing
the few domestic articles necessary to their simple mode of life, and
her new master dwelt in her father’s house with her until she had borne
a child, or he had sufficiently proved his affection towards her. Women
were obliged to suckle their children for three years, and forbidden
to hold connubial intercourse during that period. This induced the
practice of procuring abortion, for the wife feared her husband would
forget and abandon her after the long interval. Depopulation was thus
caused. Infanticide, also, was practised, but the boys were selected
as victims rather than the girls, who were valuable to their parents.
The intercourse of the sexes before marriage was rigidly watched;
the maidens were educated in habits of industry, and taught to prize
their virtue. When the missionaries came among them preaching against
polygamy and divorce, the women of this tribe were eager listeners.