Compare Historical Magazine,
First Series, V. 233.
[FN#31] Traces of cannibalism may be found among most of the North
American tribes, though they are rarely very conspicuous. Sometimes the
practice arose, as in the present instance, from revenge or ferocity
sometimes it bore a religious character, as with the Miamis, among whom
there existed a secret religions fraternity of man-eaters sometimes the
heart of a brave enemy was devoured in the idea that it made the eater
brave. This last practice was common. The ferocious threat, used in
speaking of an enemy, "I will eat his heart," is by no means a mere
figure of speech. The roving hunter-tribes, in their winter wanderings,
were not infrequently impelled to cannibalism by famine.
[FN#32] 1 The first white man to descend the rapids of St. Louis was a
youth named Louis, who, on the 10th of June, 1611, went with two Indians
to shoot herons on an island, and was drowned on the way down; the
second was a young man who in the summer before had gone with the Hurons
to their country, and who returned with them on the 18th of June; the
third was Champlain himself.
[FN#33] Wampum was a sort of beads, of several colors, made originally
by the Indians from the inner portion of certain shells, and afterwards
by the French of porcelain and glass.
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