Some Liquor Our Cook Gave Away Had Been Taken Out By The Braves To
Their Women In Another Encampment.
These spirits had so inflamed the
otherwise retiring, modest females that they, with the men, returned
to the steamer, clamoring for more.
All the stores, along with some
liquors we carried, were under my care, and I kept them securely
locked up, but in my absence at the Indian camp the store-room had
been broken open, and our men and the Indians - men and women - had
drunk long and deep. A scene like Bedlam, or Dante's "Inferno," was
taking place when I returned. Willing as they were to listen to my
counsel and admit that I was certainly a great white teacher, with
superior wisdom, on this love for liquor and its debasing
consequences they would hear no words. The women and girls, like the
men, would clamor for the raw alcohol, and gulp it down in long
draughts. When ardent spirits are more sought after by women and
girls than are beads and looking-glasses it surely shows a terribly
depraved taste. Even the chattering monkeys in the trees overhead
would spurn the poison and eagerly clutch the bright trinket. Perhaps
the looking-glasses I gave the poor females would, after the orgies
were over, serve to show them that their beauty was not increased by
this beastly carousal, and thus be a means of blessing. It may be
asked, Can the savage be possessed of pride and of self-esteem?
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