The Men Of
The Plains And The Forests No Less Resort To It As A Violent But
Grateful Relief To The Tedious Monotony Of Their Lives, Which
Alternate Between Fierce Excitement And Listless Inaction.
I fell
asleep with the dull notes of the drum still sounding on my ear, but
these furious orgies lasted without intermission till daylight.
I
was soon awakened by one of the children crawling over me, while
another larger one was tugging at my blanket and nestling himself in
a very disagreeable proximity. I immediately repelled these advances
by punching the heads of these miniature savages with a short stick
which I always kept by me for the purpose; and as sleeping half the
day and eating much more than is good for them makes them extremely
restless, this operation usually had to be repeated four or five
times in the course of the night. My host himself was the author of
another most formidable annoyance. All these Indians, and he among
the rest, think themselves bound to the constant performance of
certain acts as the condition on which their success in life depends,
whether in war, love, hunting, or any other employment. These
"medicines," as they are called in that country, which are usually
communicated in dreams, are often absurd enough. Some Indians will
strike the butt of the pipe against the ground every time they smoke;
others will insist that everything they say shall be interpreted by
contraries; and Shaw once met an old man who conceived that all would
be lost unless he compelled every white man he met to drink a bowl of
cold water.
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