Here, as in the case of the
Lobelia, nature has blazoned her drug in higher colors than did ever
quack doctor.
He observes some points of resemblance between the Indians and Tartars,
but they are trivial, and not well considered. He mentions that the
Tartars have the same custom, with some of these tribes, of shaving all
the head except a tuft on the crown. Catlin says this is intended, to
afford a convenient means by which to take away the scalp; for they
consider it a great disgrace to have the foeman neglect this, as if he
considered the conquest, of which the scalp is the certificate, no
addition to his honors.
"The Tartars," he says, "had a similar custom of sacrificing the dog;
and among the Kamschatkans was a dance resembling the dog-dance of our
Indians."
My friend, who joined me at Mackinaw, happened, on the homeward journey,
to see a little Chinese girl, who had been sent over by one of the
missions, and observed that, in features, complexion, and gesture, she
was a counterpart to the little Indian girls she had just seen playing
about on the lake shore.
The parentage of these tribes is still an interesting subject of
speculation, though, if they be not created for this region, they have
become so assimilated to it as to retain little trace of any other. To
me it seems most probable, that a peculiar race was bestowed on each
region, as the lion on one latitude and the white bear on another. As
man has two natures--one, like that of the plants and animals, adapted
to the uses and enjoyments of this planet, another, which presages and
demands a higher sphere--he is constantly breaking bounds, in proportion
as the mental gets the better of the mere instinctive existence.
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