NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.            151

ter the manner of the Romans. Sometimes, however,
they all sleep, except two or three on whom they have
the greatest dependence. But their principal safeguard
are their deities, whom they imagine to be their surest
protectors. On the following morning, if they are not
in any hurry to arrive in the country of their enemies,
small parties separate into different directions to hunt,
and in the evening all return to their camp about the
same time. Thus they procure their subsistence as they
go along without being at the trouble of carrying bur-
dens of provisions.
  "It is generally about day break that they attack their
enemies, because about this time they imaoine that they
are asleep. The chief gives the signal, and they all
rush forward, discharging their arrows, antid preparing
their more deadly weapons, their tomahawks. Slaugh-
ter and destruction are now committed without mercy
or compassion, and the vanquished frequently undergo
the painful operation of scalping.
  "In retreating, they use the greatest precaution, by
marching forward expeditiously; and pursuing a differ-
ent route from what the enemies would suppose. They
also conceal the marks of their steps by covering them
with the leaves of the trees. Those who have been ta-
ken prisoners are doomed to the most cruel treatment,
muck worse than the torments which the Christians ene
dured from the Pagans.
   " The Yakutsi conduct their prisoners to their villa-
ges where they are immediately slaughtered, except those
who are ransomed by their respective chiefs. Many of
them are also given to those widows who have lost their
husbands in war. The Okotsi are again more merciful,
for they seldom put to death any of their captives, un-
less they attempt to escape. The same treatment to-
wards prisoners of war has been often observed among
the various tribes of north-east Asia.
   "Innumerable ceremonies attend the entrance of the
warriors into their villages, on their return from the