They also wrap the naked body in a deerskin, the tips ot which swing with their points. . . . Both go for the most part bareheaded. . Around the neck and arms they wear bracelets of seawant, and some around the waist. Moccasins are made of elk hides. . . . The men paint their faces of many colors. The . . . Both are uncommonly faithful. women lay on a black spot only here and there.

Although their society was upon the monogamous plan, and none of the common people took more than one wife, it was not forbidden the chiefs to follow their inclinations in this respect. " Great and powerful chiefs," says Van der Donck, " frequently have two, three, or four wives, of the neatest and handsomest of women, who live together without variance." As the life of the Indian was spent in constant struggle against most severe conditions of existence, sensuality was quite foreign to his nature. This is powerfully illustrated by the almost uniformly respectful treatment accorded female prisoners of war. As a victor the North American Indian was entirely merciless and cruel. His adult male captives were nearly always doomed to

ABORIGINAL

INHABITANTS

death, and if not slain immediately after the battle were reserved for slow torture. But the women who fell into his hands were seldom violated. Such forbearance was of course dictated in no way by sentiment. The women, in common with the young children, were regarded by the conquerors merely as accessions to their numbers. Unchastity was an exceptionally rare thing among the married females; and in no other particular do the different accounts of the natives given by the earliest observers agree more markedly than in the statement that both the women and the girls were peculiarly modest in their demeanor.