[FN#28] Such extempore works of defence are still used among some tribes
of the remote west. The author has twice seen them, made of trees piled
together as described by Champlain, probably by war parties of the Crow
or Snake Indians.
Champlain, usually too concise, is very minute in his description of the
march and encampment.
[FN#29] According to Lafitan, hoth bucklers and breastplates were in
frequent use among the Iroquois. The former were very large and made of
cedar wood covered with interwoven thongs of hide. The kindred nation of
the Hurons, says Sagard (Voyage des hlurens, 126-206), carried large
shields, and wore greaves for the legs and enirasses made of twigs
interwoven with cords. His account corresponds with that of Champlain,
who gives a wood-cut of a warrior thus armed.
[FN#30] It has been erroneously asserted that the practice of scalping
did not prevail among the Indians before the advent of Europeans. In
1535, Cartier saw five scalps at Quebec, dried and stretched on hoops.
In 1564, Laudonniere saw them among the Indians of Florida. The
Algonquins of New England and Nova Scotia were accustomed to cut off and
carry away the head, which they afterwards scalped. Those of Canada, it
seems, sometimes scalped dead bodies on the field. Thu Algonquin
practice of carrying off heads as trophies is mentioned by Lalemant,
Roger Williams, Lescarbot, and Champlain.
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