AMERICA.

The mother of Washington receiving Lafayette in her garden.AMERICA.

The mother of Washington receiving Lafayette in her garden.

Before America was settled by Europeans, it was inhabited by Indian tribes, which greatly resembled each other in the treatment of their women. Every thing except war and hunting was considered beneath the dignity of man. During long and wearisome marches, women were obliged to carry children, provisions, and hammocks on their shoulders; they had the sole care of the horses and dogs, cut wood, pitched the tents, raised the corn, and made the clothing. When the husband killed game, he leftit by a tree in the forest, returned home, and sent his wife several miles in search of it. In most of the tribes, women were not allowed to eat and drink with men, but stood and served them, and then ate what they left.

When the Spaniards arrived in South America, the Indian women, delighted with attentions to which they had been entirely unaccustomed, often betrayed the conspiracies formed against them, supplied them with food, and acted as guides.

Father Joseph reproved a female savage on the banks of the Orinoco, because she destroyed her infant daughter. She replied, “I wish my mother had thus prevented the manifold sufferings I have endured. Consider, Father, our deplorable situation. Our husbands go out to hunt; we are dragged along with one infant at our breast, and another in a basket. Though tired with long walking, we are not allowed to sleep when we return, but must labor the whole night in grinding maize to make chica for them. They get drunk, and beat us, draw us by the hair of the head, and tread us under foot. And after a slavery of perhaps twenty years, what have we to comfort us? A young wife is then brought home, and permitted to abuse us and our children. What kindness can we show our daughters equal to putting them to death? Would to God my mother had put me under ground the moment I was born.”

The Mexicans and Peruvians, particularly the latter, were more enlightened and refined than the other native tribes. The rich ornaments of gold and pearlworn by the Peruvians, surprised their European visiters, even more than the gentleness, modesty, and benevolence of their characters. They had a temple of the sun, to whose service young virgins were dedicated, and instructed in many accomplishments.

The parents of a young Mexican having selected a suitable wife, priests are consulted, and the match concludes or not, according to their predictions. If their answers are favorable, the girl is asked of her parents by certain women styled solicitors, who are chosen from the most respectable of the youth’s kindred. The first demand is always refused; the second receives a more favorable answer; and when consent is finally obtained, the bride, after proper exhortation from her parents, is conducted to the house of her father-in-law. If wealthy, she is carried in a litter. The bridegroom and his relations receive her at the gate, where four women are stationed bearing torches. As soon as the young couple meet, they offer incense to each other. They then sit on a curiously wrought mat, in the centre of the hall, near the fire, and the priest ties the bride’s gown to the bridegroom’s mantle. They offer sacrifices to the gods, and exchange presents. The guests are then entertained with feasting and dancing in the open air; but the newly married are shut up in the house for four days. At the end of that period they appear in their richest attire, and give dresses to the company, in proportion to their wealth.

Gumilla, in his History of the River Orinoco, says there is one nation that marry old men to girls andold women to lads, that age may correct the petulance of youth. They say, to join together people equal in youth and imprudence, is to join one fool to another. The first marriage is however only a kind of apprenticeship; for after a while the young people are allowed to marry those of their own age.

Among several tribes of North American Indians, the lover begins his suit by going at midnight to the tent, or lodge, of his mistress. He lights a splinter of wood, and holds it to her face to awaken her. If she leaves the torch burning, it is a signal that she rejects him; but if she blows it out, he understands that he is at liberty to communicate his intentions.

In some places, when the lover approaches the hut of his mistress, he begs leave to enter it by signs. If permission is obtained, he goes in and sits down by her in silence. If she suffers him to remain, without any expression of disapprobation, it is an indication that she favors his suit; but if she offers him food or drink, he understands it as a refusal.

Indian marriages are generally performed in the following manner: The young couple are seated on a mat in the centre of the room. The bride, or bridegroom, hold a rod or wand between them, while some elderly person harangues them concerning their reciprocal duties. He tells the husband that he must catch plenty of venison and furs for his wife; and the bride is urged to cook his food well, mend his clothes, and take off his moccasins and leggins, when he comes home from hunting. The rod is then broken, and a piece given to the witnesses, intestimony of the contract. The company form a circle and dance and sing around them. Before they separate, they partake of a plentiful feast provided for the occasion. A strap, a kettle, and a fagot, are put into the bride’s apartment, in token of her employments. At Dacotah weddings, the bride is carried forcibly to her husband’s dwelling, making resistance at every step. In some parts of Old Mexico, the bridegroom was carried off by his relations, as if he were the one forced into wedlock. A Dacotah lover puts on leggins of different colors, seats himself on a log near the wigwam of his beloved, and sings, or plays on some musical instrument. The following has been given as a sample of Indian love-songs, by a writer well acquainted with their manners:

“She is handsomer than scarlet or wampum;I will put on a blue leggin and run after her;And she will flee as if afraid.But I see, as she turns her head over her shoulder,And mocks and laughs, and rails at me,That her fears are nothing but pretence.She is handsomer than scarlet and wampum;I will put on a blue leggin and run after her.”

“She is handsomer than scarlet or wampum;

I will put on a blue leggin and run after her;

And she will flee as if afraid.

But I see, as she turns her head over her shoulder,

And mocks and laughs, and rails at me,

That her fears are nothing but pretence.

She is handsomer than scarlet and wampum;

I will put on a blue leggin and run after her.”

The Indians, both men and women, had great love of finery. Their caps, belts, and moccasins were plentifully embroidered with beads and shells, which they called wampum. The chiefs considered a coronet of feathers peculiarly beautiful; but this ornament, generally indicative of successful war, was seldom worn by women. But even among these rude people, jokes concerning female love of dress were not wanting. A few years since, the writer conversedwith two Penobscot Indians, the one old, the other young, and very handsome. The youth wore a scarlet band upon his hat, and his wampum belt was curiously embroidered; the other had an old blanket carelessly wrapped about him. “Where is your wampum belt?” said I. With a look of quiet scorn, he replied, “What for me wear ribbons and beads? Me no want to catch ’em squaw.”[3]

[3]Indians call their womensquaws, and infantspapooses.

Among the Hohays are men who dress in a female garb, and perform all manner of female avocations. They are calledWinktahs, and treated with the utmost contempt.

The Indian bridegroom generally pays his father-in-law for his bride; and even in their primitive form of society, he who can offer a large price is most likely to be acceptable to parents. Handsome Indian girls are not unfrequently disposed of contrary to their inclinations. They are not permitted to marry relations within so near a degree of consanguinity as cousins. Suicide is common among the women of these savage tribes. When thwarted in love, or driven to desperation by ill usage, they frequently hang themselves to the branch of a tree, rush into the sea, or throw themselves from a precipice. The men very rarely destroy their own lives. They seldom have more than one wife at a time; but they change just when they please, interchange with each other, and lend to visiters, without scandal. When a wife becomes old, a younger one is often purchased; and the first one may either kill herself,or tamely submit to be the drudge of the family. In several tribes, the pieces of stick given to the witnesses at the marriage are burnt, in sign of divorce. But, generally speaking, new connections are formed without any formal dissolution of the old one.

When the sachem of Saugus married the daughter of the chief of Pennakook, a great feast was given, and the bride and bridegroom escorted to their dwelling by some of the most honorable men of her father’s tribe, who were feasted several days at the expense of the husband. Some time after, the wife expressed a wish to visit her father, and was permitted to do so, with a select escort to accompany her. When she desired to return, the old chief sent to the sachem to come and take her away. This offended the young man’s pride. “I sent her to you in a manner that became a chief,” he replied; “and now that she intends to return to me, I expect the same from you.” The chief of Pennakook considered this an insolent message. He would not allow his daughter to return unless her husband sent for her; the sachem would not submit to the terms; and the young couple saw each other no more.

The Indians pride themselves on stoicism, and at no period of their history have been addicted to voluptuousness. Their sense of manliness and dignity prevents them from being immodest. In this respect, their deportment towards women is abundantly more praiseworthy than that of civilized nations.

When it was proposed (either facetiously or otherwise) that women should be members of parliament,an Englishman objected to it, on the ground that a lady, who sat with committees of gentlemen, might sometimes meet with a species of impoliteness that would be embarrassing. Ifthisbe a reason why women should not transact public business, it is a fact exceedingly disgraceful to civilized men. Female captives taken by Indians, though treated with the most diabolical cruelty, according to their savage mode of warfare, have travelled with powerful warriors days and weeks, through the loneliest paths of the forest, and never been subjected to the slightest personal insult.

Notwithstanding the habitual taciturnity of Indians, and their pride of concealing all emotion, the potent passion of love sometimes gets the mastery of them, as well as of other men. One of their strongest excitements to bravery, is the hopes of gaining favor in the bright eyes of some beautiful maiden; and it is often a matter of peculiar pride with them to obtain the handsomest furs to decorate a wife, and to furnish an abundant supply of venison for her comfortable subsistence. An Indian woman is always proud of having a good hunter for a husband; and a lover is often told that he must signalize himself by more daring exploits, before he can hope to be received into favor.

Mr. Heckewelder, in his interesting account of the American Indians, relates the following anecdote: “In the year 1762, I was witness to a remarkable instance of the disposition of Indians to indulge their wives. There was a famine in the land, and a sickIndian woman expressed a great desire for a mess of Indian corn. Her husband, having heard that a trader at Lower Sandusky had a little, set off on horseback for that place, one hundred miles distant, and returned with as much corn as filled the crown of his hat, for which he gave his horse in exchange, and came home on foot, bringing his saddle back with him.

“It very seldom happens that an Indian condescends to quarrel with his wife, or abuse her, though she has given him just cause. In such a case, the man, without replying, or saying a single word, will take his gun and go into the woods, and remain there a week, or perhaps a fortnight, living on the meat he has killed, before he returns home again; well knowing that he cannot inflict a greater punishment on his wife for her conduct to him, than by absenting himself for a while; for she is not only kept in suspense, uncertain whether he will return again, but is soon reported as a bad and quarrelsome woman; for, as on those occasions a man does not tell his wife on what day or at what time he will be back again, which he never, when they are on good terms, neglects to do, she is at once put to shame by her neighbors, who, soon suspecting something, do not fail to put such questions to her as she either cannot, or is ashamed to answer. When he at length does return, she endeavors to let him see, by her attentions, that she has repented, though neither speak to each other a single word on the subject of what has passed. And as his children, if he has any,will on his return hang about him, and soothe him with their caresses, he is on their account ready to forgive, or at least to say nothing unpleasant to their mother.”

The women of these savage tribes, like the female peasantry of Europe, have very hardy constitutions. When an infant is a few hours old, they carry it to some neighboring stream and plunge it in the water, even if they have to break the ice for that purpose. Until it is old enough to crawl about, they lay it down on a clean piece of bark, while they attend to their customary avocations; when obliged to travel, they carry it swung at their backs, in a strip of cloth, or a basket. Some tribes have the habit of placing boys on the skin of a panther, and girls on that of a fawn, from an idea that they will imbibe the qualities of those animals. Names are usually bestowed to indicate some personal or moral quality; asParrot-nosed,Serpent-eyed,The Timid Fawn, &c. These names are often added to others, signifyingThe First Son,The Second Son,The First Daughter, &c.

Most of the North American tribes make it a fundamental principle of education never to strike a child. When a fault is committed, the mother begins to cry; if her son or daughter ask what is the matter, she replies, “You disgrace me.” This reproach is keenly felt, and generally produces amendment. If a young person is more obdurate than common, the parents throw a glass of water in his face, and this is considered a most disgraceful punishment. They seldom refuse a child any thing.Hence when the avenger of blood is implacable, the culprit is often led into his presence by a little child, prettily adorned, and taught to lisp a prayer for pardon; and a petition for mercy from such innocent lips, is rarely denied even by the sternest warrior. Pocahontas was only twelve years old when her intercession saved the life of captain Smith.

Both girls and boys are early taught to endure without a murmur the utmost rigors of climate, excess of labor, and the extremity of pain. It is common to try their fortitude by ordering them to hold their hands in the fire, till permission is given to withdraw them; and if even their countenances give indication of agony, it is deemed dishonorable. When taken captive in war they have need of their utmost powers of endurance; for their enemies exercise all their ingenuity in torture. Yet such is the force of education, that women, as well as men, will smile and utter jeering words, while their nails are pulled out by the roots, their feet crushed between stones, and their flesh torn with red-hot pincers.

It is an almost universal rule that women are more tender-hearted than men; but the North American Indians seem to furnish an exception. When a prisoner is tied to the stake, women are even more furious and active than men, in the work of cruelty. If any one of the tribe chooses to adopt the prisoner, his life is spared, and they cease to torment him. Parents, who have lost their own children in battle, often resort to this expedient, and bring up their adopted sons and daughters with great kindness.

The power of Indian husbands is absolute. If they detect a wife in unfaithfulness, they generally cut off her nose, or take off part of her scalp. In a sudden fit of anger they sometimes kill both her and her paramour; and this goes unpunished, though it is considered more proper to call a council of the elders to decide the matter. Those stern old men do not approve of very furious transports on such occasions; because they deem it undignified to make such a fuss about a woman, so long as the world contains plenty of individuals to supply her place.

Dancing was a common amusement with the Indians. Their war-dances were performed by men; but there were others appropriated to women, or in which both sexes united. Captain Smith gives the following account of an “anticke” prepared by Pocahontas for his reception at her father’s place of residence: “Thirty young women came out of the woods, covered onely with a few greene leaues, their bodies all painted, some of one colour, some of another, but all differing. Their leader had a fayre payre of bucks hornes on her head, and an otter-skinne at her girdle, and another at her arme, a quiver of arrowes at her backe, a bow and arrows in her hand. The next had in her hand a sword, and another a club, another a pot-sticke, all horned alike; the rest every one with their seuerall devises. These fiends, with most hellish shouts and cryes, rushing from among the trees, cast themselves in a ring about the fire, singing and dancing with most excellent ill varietie, oft falling into their infernall passions,and solemnly again to sing and daunce. Having spent neare an houre in this mascarado, as they entred, in like manner they departed.”

Captain Smith does not give a very gallant account of an entertainment intended as a particular compliment to his arrival. The dance, like most savage dances, was unquestionably a pantomime; and he probably did not understand what it was intended to represent.

The Indian women sometimes accompany the men on hunting excursions, for the purpose of bringing home the game; and in time of battle they often encourage and assist the warriors. In addition to the toilsome occupations already alluded to, they made garments of skins, sewed with sinews and thorns, wove neat mats and baskets, and embroidered very prettily with shells, feathers, and grass of various colors. When first visited by Europeans, they wore furs in winter, and mats tied about them in summer; but they soon learned to substitute blankets, and strips of cloth. Those that can afford it, have ears, neck, arms, and waist plentifully decorated with beads, pebbles, fishes’ teeth, or shells. The Indians of California perforate the lobes of the ears, and insert pieces of wood five or six inches long, ornamented with feathers. On the North-West coast, the women make a horizontal incision in the lower lip, for the purpose of introducing a wooden plug, which makes the lip protrude in a hideous manner. In the neighborhood of Kotzebue’s sound, they wear large beads suspended from the nose, and when theyexperience inconvenience from these ornaments, they stow them away in the nostrils. The Guiana females stick thorns, or pins, through the lower lip; the heads are inside, and the points rest upon the chin. They have likewise the habit of putting a band round the ankle and knee, when girls are ten or twelve years old; as this is never removed, it produces an unnatural compression, and the calf of the leg swells to an unwieldy size. Indians of both sexes paint themselves in various colors and patterns, and are more or less addicted to tattooing; though it is by no means practised to the extent that it is among the South sea islanders.

Before America was visited by Europeans, the Indian tribes were universally temperate, healthy, and cleanly in their habits; but they have now acquired most of the evils of civilization, with few of its advantages. They have a reddish brown complexion, keen black eyes, regular white teeth, and sleek, shining black hair, which the women usually suffer to flow over the shoulders. Those who live near the sea never become bald, and their hair does not turn gray; perhaps this may be owing to the frequent habit of bathing in salt water, which always has a salutary effect on the hair.

The vigorous forms of their children may be attributed to active habits, and to the entire freedom of their limbs from all bands, ligatures, or clothing. Several tribes have the habit of flattening the forehead, by heavy pressure during infancy. To be childless is considered almost as great a misfortuneas it was among the Jews. A man will never divorce a wife who has brought him sons, and though he may perchance marry several others, he always considers her as entitled to peculiar respect.

Indian women are usually well skilled in simple remedies, and are the physicians of their tribes. In some places, medicine is considered peculiarly efficacious if it is prepared and administered by the hand of a maiden. The healing art is intimately connected in their minds with magic, and medicines are seldom given without prayers and incantations, to avert the influence of evil spirits. There are in almost every tribe individuals who claim the gift of prophecy, and endeavor to foretel future events by conjurations and dreams. I am not aware that they consider women more frequently endowed with this supernatural power than men.

Some tribes bury their dead, others expose them on scaffolds suspended in high trees. The arms and horse of a warrior are buried with him for his use in another world; and a mortar, kettle, and other utensils of daily use accompany the corpse of a female. When a great chief dies, his wives, and many of his attendants, are sometimes obliged to follow him to the world of spirits. The tribe of Natchez is ruled by a chief called The Great Sun; and when any woman of the blood of the Suns dies, it becomes necessary that her husband and attendants should be sacrificed in honor of her decease. The widows of illustrious chiefs generally take pride in devoting themselves to death with stoical firmness. The wifeof The Stung Serpent, who was brother to The Great Sun, thus addressed her children when she was about to leave them: “Your father waits for me in the land of spirits. If I were to yield to your tears, I should injure my love, and fail in my duty. You that are descended of his blood, and fed by my milk, ought not to weep. Rather rejoice that you are Suns and warriors, bound to give examples of firmness to the whole nation.” The victims, having been made giddy by swallowing little balls of tobacco, are strangled, and placed near the corpse upon mats, ranged according to their rank.

The Indians, both men and women, lament for the dead with loud howling and lamentation, blacken their faces, and wound themselves with flints, knives, and splinters of wood. When the women are going out to work, or returning from their labors, the widows of the tribe often join in a sort of dirge, or mourning chorus.

As sailors have the superstition that it brings bad luck to have a woman on board a ship, so the Indians believe that the fleetest horse in the world would lose his speed, if a woman were suffered to mount him; hence when it becomes necessary for women to ride, they are placed on old worn-out animals.

Among the Dacotahs a particular lodge is set apart for councils, and the reception of strangers. The women supply it with wood and water, but are never permitted to enter it. This tribe have an institution called the Lodge of the Grand Medicine, the ceremonies of which are celebrated in secret, and the membersknow each other by certain signs. It differs from Free-Masonry, in allowing women to be among the initiated.

The women of the Hurons and Iroquois seem to have had more influence than was common among other tribes. Huron women might appoint a member of the council, and one of their own sex if they chose. They could prevail upon the warriors to go to battle, or desist from it, according to their wishes. Among the Natchez, authority descended in an hereditary line both to male and female. It is a general rule with the American tribes that a man should be succeeded by his sister’s children, not by his own.

The dwellings of the Indians are huts made of the interwoven boughs of trees, or tents covered with the skins of animals, without division of apartments. Whole villages of women and children are often left for weeks, while the men are absent on hunting expeditions.

The South American tribes were more docile, indolent, and soft-hearted than those of the north. They married at an earlier period; twelve or thirteen being the common age for a bride. It is said that the tribes about the isthmus of Darien considered it no impropriety for women to make the first declaration of love. When they preferred a young man, they told him so, and promised to be very faithful, good-tempered, and obedient, if he would take them to wife.

The women of Greenland and other countries about the arctic regions are inured to the utmostrigor of a northern climate, and the extremity of toil. During the long winters, many of these tribes live in snow huts with ice windows. They consider train-oil one of the greatest of luxuries, and would eagerly devour a tallow candle in preference to the most delicious sweetmeats. They dress in garments of reindeer’s skin, lined with moss, and changed so seldom, that they become filthy in the extreme. The men hunt bears and catch seals; but when they have towed their booty to land, they would consider it a disgrace to help the women drag it home, or skin and dress it. They often stand and look idly on, while their wives are staggering beneath a load that almost bends them to the earth. The women are cooks, butchers, masons, curriers, shoemakers, and tailors. They will manage a boat in the roughest seas, and will often push off from the shore in the midst of a storm, that would make the hardiest European sailor tremble.

In most countries, women enter into matrimony more readily than men, even where their affections are not concerned. The reasons are obvious. Women are more restrained by the laws and usages of society than men, and the scope of their ambition is much more limited. Though marriage subjects them to many cares and privations, it gives them in some respects a greater degree of freedom and consideration; it likewise generally insures protection and support, and is almost the only way in which a woman can rise above her natural condition, with regard to wealth and rank.

In Greenland, all this is reversed. Young girls have nothing to do but dance and sing, and fetch water, and look to their baby brothers and sisters; but when they marry, they become the slaves of an absolute master, for whom they are obliged to toil and drudge, with frequent beatings; and if left in widowhood with little children, they are generally in extreme poverty, with none to hunt or fish for them. For these reasons, the Greenland women are averse to marriage. When a girl sees the relations of a young man at her father’s house, and hears them praise his dexterity in catching seals, she begins to suspect that her parents are about to sell her; and she often runs away and hides in the mountains, until the women search for her, and drag her home. On such occasions, she will remain silent and dejected for several days, refusing to be comforted. Sometimes they make a solemn vow that they will never marry, and shave their heads in sign of their determination. Their hair is long, straight and black. The women wear it in a roll on the top of the head, adorned with some gay bandage of beads, or hanging in two long braids each side of the forehead. It is never cut off, except to avoid marriage, or in token of deep mourning, or as a punishment. Mothers tattoo the faces of their daughters, by drawing threads filled with soot under the skin. They are generally short in stature, with shoulders made very broad by the constant habit of carrying burdens. Their complexion is tawny, and their eyes small and sunken. Some of the old women are said to be hideouslyugly; their eyes being inflamed by the glittering of the sun on fields of ice, and their teeth blackened by the constant use of tobacco. Some of the inhabitants of these northern regions have their garments made wide enough in the back to support an infant, which is kept from falling by means of a girdle round the mother’s waist; in other places, the babe sits behind her neck, on a broad strap fastened round her forehead. Some of the children, it is said, are rather comely by nature, but, from being laid carelessly in the bottom of boats, they look very much like wild, neglected little animals.

Polygamy is not common, but is by no means discreditable. The first wife, if she have children, is considered the head of the family. When she dies, the junior wife takes her place, and is generally very kind to the motherless little ones. When a man wishes to obtain a wife, he adorns himself, his children, his house, his boats, and his darts, in the finest manner he can, in order to render himself an object of attraction. Widowers seldom marry under a year, unless they have very small children, with no one to nurse them. When a man wishes for divorce, he leaves the house, apparently in anger, and does not return for several days; the wife understands his meaning, packs up her clothes, and removes to her friends.

In these northern regions the dances are pantomimes, consisting of violent writhings, stampings, and contortions. They are particularly fond of imitating the animals they are accustomed to pursue.The bear has been called their dancing-master, for they imitate, with wonderful accuracy, his motions and attitudes, in all possible situations. Their skilful female dancers are so rapid and violent in their movements, that they appear to a civilized eye more like furies or maniacs than any thing else.

The Greenlanders and Esquimaux are generally good-humored and friendly, and, like all savages, extremely hospitable. Men, women, and children, who are obliged to live huddled together in small apartments, cannot be expected to have any considerable degree of refinement, or even decency, in their habits; but their perilous mode of life tends to develope a kind of instinctive intelligence. Captain Lyon mentions one female, in particular, named Iligliuk, whom her countrymen called “the wise woman.” She was frequently on board his ship, and gave some valuable geographical knowledge of the country, in the form of a rude map; but she soon became very proud and disdainful, in consequence of the attentions that were paid her.

The tribes of these frozen regions have generally great faith in magic, and place much reliance on information obtained from male and female sorcerers, who go about dressed in a fantastic manner, and assuming a frenzied deportment, as if under the influence of evil inspiration.

Intoxication is a common vice with both sexes; and both have an excessive love of chewing and smoking tobacco.

In the Russian settlements, there is a tribe whichhave a strange manner of courtship. When a young man has chosen a girl, he goes to her relations, and offers “to drudge for them,” till he can secure the object of his affections. The young woman is immediately wrapped up in a multiplicity of garments, that scarcely leave her face visible; and the lover has no hope of obtaining his prize, until in some lucky moment he catches her off her guard, and is able to touch her uncovered hand, arm, neck, or face. It is necessary that she should confess the fact, and affirm that she was taken by surprise. It is difficult to perform this task; for her female relations keep near her night and day, and if the young man attempts to tear off the teasing envelopes, he gets a sound beating, and is liable to be dismissed in disgrace. Sometimes two or three years expire before he attains his object; and in the mean time, he is bound to perform, with the utmost industry and submission, any labors her relations choose to impose upon him. Soon after the long-desired triumph is obtained, the damsel consents to be his wife, and her friends, without any further ceremony, commemorate the event by a feast.

The European settlers of South America are principally Spanish and Portuguese. They retain the language, manners, and customs of their ancestors; but if the report of numerous travellers be correct, the state of morals is worse than in the old countries. We find the same ceremonious observance of etiquette—the same exaggerated phrases to express courtesy, friendship, or love—the same chivalrous bearing toward ladies—the same pageantry in religious festivals—andthe same universal practice of taking thesiesta, or afternoon’s sleep, which prevail in Spain and Portugal.

An enervating climate, an accommodating religion, and the degrading system of slavery, have all combined to produce an unfavorable influence on the moral and intellectual character of the people. Slavery is indeed nearly abolished, except in Brazil; but a long time will probably elapse before its baneful effects cease to be visible on the manners and habits of those, who have been accustomed to breathe its polluting atmosphere. The South American women are generally ignorant and indolent, and more governed by passion than by principle. Public opinion is by no means rigid concerning the conduct of married women; but individual revenge is not unfrequently taken, in the form of duels and assassinations. Captain Cochrane, speaking of Colombia, says: “The majority of the women are by no means handsome. They certainly have fine eyes and dark hair; but neither features, complexion, nor figure are good, compared with those of Europeans. Some few have, when young, a little bloom on their cheeks; but in general a sallow or Moorish cast of face meets the eye. The men are far handsomer than the women, and their dark complexions are more agreeable to the eye. They are also better educated, being generally able toread and write.”

M. Depons describes the women of Caracas as “generally below the middle size; mild, tender, and seductive; with jet-black hair, alabaster skins, eyeslarge and finely shaped, and carnation lips. Their attire is rather elegant. They feel a kind of vanity on being taken for French; but whatever resemblance there may be in the dress, there is too little gracefulness to permit the illusion to subsist. Their principal morning occupation is going to mass, and a great portion of the rest of the day is spent lounging on sofas, or gazing at the windows. Their education is limited to learning a number of prayers, reading badly, spelling worse, and playing by rote a few tunes on the guitar and piano-forte. But in spite of their defective education, the women of Caracas know how to unite social manners with decent behavior, and the art of coquetry with the modesty of their sex.”

The festivals of the Roman Catholic religion are sufficiently numerous to employ a large portion of the time of its votaries; and they are observed with as much pomp in the New World, as in the Catholic countries of Europe. Corpus Christi day is celebrated with unusual magnificence. It is announced the preceding evening by artificial fireworks. The windows of the houses are adorned with gay festoons of silk and ribbons; jewellers sometimes display their whole stock of sparkling gems, exposed in glass cases on the outer walls of the building; at the corners of the streets, through which the procession is to pass, are altars richly ornamented with jewels and flowers; and puppet-shows, with curious animals of various sorts in cages, are ranged on all sides. As soon as the sound of the bell is heard announcing the approachof the procession, all leave their games, and kneel in the street. “At the head of the procession, are chariots dragged along by men; in one is king David, with the head of Goliath in his hand; in another, Esther; in a third, Mordecai; Joseph next makes his appearance upon a horse richly caparisoned, and followed by a great number of guards; these, however, are only mounted on pasteboard chargers. All these personages are the children of the principal inhabitants of the city. To obtain the honor of acting a part in this imposing spectacle, is a great desideratum; and those who are honored, by having their children nominated, neglect no kind of expense: rivalling each other in splendor, they lay pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies under contribution, and put their imagination to the rack, in order to render the dresses of the actors more magnificent. The most beautiful girls in the city walk between two rows of priests, some carrying the ark, and the show-bread, others incense or baskets of flowers. To these succeed young Indians, who, to the sound of a flute and tabor, perform wild fantastic dances. The procession is closed by a detachment of troops, with arms and colors reversed.” These religious solemnities generally conclude with fireworks, concerts, balls, and masquerades.

Doctor Walsh thus describes the great convent of Ajuda, in Rio de Janeiro: “At the end of the chapel is a large quadrangle, entered by a massive gateway, surrounded by three stories of grated windows. Here female negro pedlers come with their goods, and exposethem in the court-yard below. The nuns, from their grated windows above, see what they like, and, letting down a cord, the article is fastened to it; it is then drawn up and examined, and, if approved of, the price is let down. Some that I saw in the act of buying and selling in this way, were very merry, joking and laughing with the blacks below, and did not seem at all indisposed to do the same with my companion. In three of the lower windows, on a level with the court-yard, are revolving cupboards, like half-barrels, and at the back of each is a plate of tin, perforated like the top of a nutmeg-grater. The nuns of this convent are celebrated for making sweet confectionary, which people purchase. There is a bell which the purchaser applies to, and a nun peeps through the perforated tin; she then lays the dish on a shelf of the revolving cupboard, and turns it inside out; the dish is taken, the price laid in its place, and it is turned in. While we stood there, the invisible lady-warder asked for a pinch of snuff; the box was laid down in the same way, and turned in and out.”

The disposition to take the veil, even among young girls, is not uncommon in Brazil. The opposition of friends can prevent it, until they are twenty-five years old; but after that time they are considered competent to decide for themselves. The same writer describes the initiation of a young lady, whose wealthy parents were extremely reluctant to have her take the vow. She held a lighted torch in her hand, in imitation of the prudent virgins; and when the priestchanted, “Your spouse approaches; come forth and meet him,” she approached the altar, singing, “I follow with my whole heart;” and, accompanied by two nuns already professed, she knelt before the bishop. “She seemed very lovely, with an unusually sweet, gentle, and pensive countenance. She did not look particularly or deeply affected; but when she sung her responses, there was something exceedingly mournful in the soft, tremulous, and timid tones of her voice. The bishop now exhorted her to make a public profession of her vows before the congregation, and said, ‘Will you persevere in your purpose of holy chastity?’ She blushed deeply, and, with a downcast look, lowly, but firmly answered, ‘I will.’ He again said, more distinctly, ‘Do you promise to preserve it?’ and she replied more emphatically, ‘I do promise.’ The bishop said, ‘Thanks be to God;’ and she bent forward and reverently kissed his hand, while he asked her, ‘Will you now be blessed and consecrated?’ She replied, ‘Oh! I wish it.’

“The habiliments, in which she was hereafter to be clothed, were sanctified by the aspersion of holy water: then followed several prayers to God, that ‘As he had blessed the garments of Aaron, with ointment which flowed from his head to his beard, so he would now bless the garment of his servant, with the copious dew of his benediction.’ When the garment was thus blessed, the girl retired with it; and having laid aside the dress in which she had appeared, she returned, arrayed in her new attire, except her veil. A gold ring was next provided, and consecrated with aprayer, that she who wore it ‘might be fortified with celestial virtue, to preserve a pure faith, and incorrupt fidelity to her spouse, Jesus Christ.’ He last took the veil, and her female attendants having uncovered her head, he threw it over her, so that it fell on her shoulders and bosom, and said, ‘Receive this sacred veil, under the shadow of which you may learn to despise the world, and submit yourself truly, and with all humility of heart, to your Spouse;’ to which she sung a response, in a very sweet, soft, and touching voice: ‘He has placed this veil before my face, that I should see no lover but himself.’

“The bishop now kindly took her hand, and held it while the following hymn was chanted by the choir with great harmony: ‘Beloved Spouse, come—the winter is passed—the turtle sings, and the blooming vines are redolent of summer.’

“A crown, a necklace, and other female ornaments, were now taken by the bishop and separately blessed; and the girl bending forward, he placed them on her head and neck, praying that she might be thought worthy ‘to be enrolled into the society of the hundred and forty-four thousand virgins, who preserved their chastity, and did not mix with the society of impure women.’

“Last of all, he placed the ring on the middle finger of her right hand, and solemnly said, ‘So I marry you to Jesus Christ, who will henceforth be your protector. Receive this ring, the pledge of your faith, that you may be called the spouse of God.’ She fell on her knees, and sung, ‘I am married tohim whom angels serve, whose beauty the sun and moon admire;’ then rising, and showing with exultation her right hand, she said, emphatically, as if to impress it on the attention of the congregation, ‘My Lord has wedded me with this ring, and decorated me with a crown as his spouse. I here renounce and despise all earthly ornaments for his sake, whom alone I see, whom alone I love, in whom alone I trust, and to whom alone I give all my affections. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak of the deed I have done for my King.’ The bishop then pronounced a general benediction, and retired up to the altar; while the nun professed was borne off between her friends, with lighted tapers, and garlands waving.”

Doctor Walsh observes, that the spectators did not seem to be at all impressed with the solemnity of this ceremony, but laughed and joked about it with a degree of levity not entirely consistent with delicacy. It is a notorious fact that the South Americans have little hearty faith in the religion they profess. The French philosophy taught in their schools has destroyed this, without introducing any thing better. Women are very regular in their attendance at mass; but men give themselves little trouble about it, unless some love-affair attracts them to the church. Girls often marry as young as twelve or fourteen. Ambitious parents there, as elsewhere, are desirous to have their children form matches of interest; but the natural ardor and sensibility of the people is opposed to this. With all the fervid romance of oldentime, they fall in love at the first glance; and while the paroxysm endures, “the world is divided into two parts—that where the beloved object is, and that where she is not.” It is no uncommon occurrence for the daughters of wealthy families to leave the luxuries of their father’s house, for the sake of some young man, whose industry will afford them merely a comfortable subsistence. The enthusiastic character of the people sympathizes so readily with such disinterestedness, that a law was recently passed in Brazil to prevent rich fathers from disinheriting their children under such circumstances, unless some important charge could be substantiated against the moral character of those they married. It is much to be regretted that the matrimonial vow is often as lightly broken, as it was fervently uttered.

In large cities, French dress and manners prevail to a considerable extent; but in the provinces women frequently follow the Spanish custom of wearing the mantilla, and covering the face, so as to leave only one sparkling eye visible. They likewise ride on horses, or mules, after the fashion of men. The laboring class are principally blacks, or some of the various shades between black and white; and here as in other countries, the free negro is almost as much paralyzed and degraded as the slave himself, by the effects of that lazy and pernicious system. The prejudice with regard to color is much less strong than in North America. The descendants of Africans have a wider field opened for the exercise of such abilities as God may have given them; and bothsexes sometimes form highly respectable marriages with the European race.

Because the prevailing character of South American women is ignorant and voluptuous, it must not be supposed that there are not numerous exceptions. Even the cities, which are always worse than villages, contain many virtuous, modest, and honorable families; and during the frequent struggles for independence, ladies in various parts of South America have often manifested a sublime degree of firmness and patriotism.

It is hardly possible to imagine a greater contrast of character than existed between the settlers of North and South America. Instead of wealth-seeking, voluptuous adventurers, with a religion so flexible, that it adapted itself to every form of human passion, New England was settled by stern, uncompromising Puritans—men who considered mirth an indecorum, the love of women a snare, and dress a shameful memento of the fall of Adam. Though resisting tyranny, they themselves were most tyrannical. The selectmen deemed they had a right to ascertain whether every girl in their village did a proper amount of spinning and weaving; and if a mother staid away from meeting, to tend her babe, the deacon straightway called to reprove her for neglect of the ordinances. It was then customary for women to carry their infants to religious meetings, and attend to all their wants with as much freedom, as if they had been by their own firesides.With regard to external comforts, there was a near approach to equality in the condition of all classes. The employed ate and drank and labored with their employers. Each household was a patriarchal establishment, of which the hired domestics were a component part; and they generally remained in the family they once entered, until they were married or died. It was an almost unheard-of thing for a family to keep more than one female domestic, and her wages, even forty years ago, was not more than two pistareens, or 2s.6d.Though cloth was then three times as dear as it now is, this price was sufficient to satisfy all wants; for a new calico gown once a year was then considered quite a luxury. The most respectable inhabitants of the colonies were quite content to ride to church on horseback, with a wife or daughter behind them, on a pillion. One gown of silk brocade was considered wealth, and two constituted magnificence; especially if a string of gold beads, and gold buckles for the shoes, were appended thereto. But though the richest wardrobe of those primitive days would appear scanty enough in modern eyes, men did not fail to discuss the worn-out theme of female extravagance. The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam, who wrote in Massachusetts as early as 1647, says: “I can make my selfe sick at any time with comparing the dazzeling splender wherwith our gentlewomen were embellished in some former habits, with the goosdom, wherewith they are now surcingled and debauched. We have about five or six of them in our colony: if I see any of themaccidentally, I cannot cleanse my phansie of them for a moneth after. I speak sadly; me thinkes it should break the hearts of English-men to see goodly English-women imprisoned in French cages, peering out of their hood-holes for some men of mercy to help them with a little wit, and no body relieves them. It is no marvell they weare drailes, on the hinder part of their heads, having nothing as it seems in the fore-part, but a few Squirrills braines, to help them frisk from one ill-fauored fashion to another. It is no little labour to be continually putting up English women into Out-landish caskes; who if they be not shifted anew, once in a few moneths, grow too sowre for their husbands. When I heare a nugiperous Gentledame inquire what is the newest fashion of the Court, with egge to be in it in all hast, whatever it be, I look at her as the very gizzard of a trifle, the product of a quarter of a cypher, the epitome of nothing, fitter to be kickt, if she were of a kickable substance, than either honoured or humoured.”

About the time of the revolution, the fashion of wearing hooped petticoats was imported from beyond seas, and gave rise to considerable satire. A sailor in New York, finding a narrow street entirely filled by two persons in this inconvenient dress, amused the spectators by jumping over, through a space left between the ladies by the immense circumference of their hoops.

While we remained English colonies, a system of strict subordination was observed throughout society.Men took off their hats, and women made a profound courtesy to the magistrates, or the minister; children seldom presumed to speak in the presence of their parents, and were always taught to “make their manners,” when they met any person.

It was in these days of simplicity, that the marquis La Fayette went to take leave of the mother of Washington, and found her weeding her garden. The dignified matron received him cordially, without embarrassment or apology; and when he congratulated her on the greatness and glory of her son, she quietly replied: “I am not surprised at what George has done; for he was always a good boy.”

The women of ’76 shared in the patriotism and bravery of the men. They were ready to sacrifice themselves, or their children, for the good of the country. Several individuals carried their enthusiasm so far as to enter the army, where they courageously faced all the perils and fatigues of the camp, until the close of the war.

The strange delusion concerning witchcraft, which prevailed in Europe, extended itself to the English colonies toward the close of the seventeenth century. Every old woman who had an ill temper, a sinister expression of countenance, or an uncommon degree of shrewdness, was in great danger of being burned for a witch. Indeed such was the infatuation, that a little girl about four or five years old was committed to prison, charged with biting some bewitched persons, who showed the print of small teeth on their arms. Another poor child was brought before the magistratesand asked, “How long hast thou been a witch?” “Ever since I was six years old.” “How old are you now?” “Brother Richard says I shall be eight years old next November.” “You said you saw a black cat once; what did it say to you?” “It said it would tear me to pieces if I did not sign my name to a book.” “How did you afflict folks?” “I pinched them. My mother carried me to afflict them.” “How could your mother carry you, when she was in prison?” “She came like a black cat.” “How did you know it was your mother?” “The cat told me she was my mother.”

It seems unaccountable that such testimony as this was gravely listened to, and believed by the magistrates; and that too in cases where human life was at stake; but the very nature of the supposed crime did not admit of any other than absurd evidence. The delusion prevailed to such a dreadful degree, that every woman feared her neighbor, and when she lay down to sleep, knew not but the next night would find her in prison. Children accused their own parents of carrying them to witches’ meetings at midnight, and baptizing them in the name of the devil. Sometimes the accused denied the charge, and when asked what God witches prayed to, answered, “I cannot tell; the Lord help me:” but in numerous instances they confessed themselves guilty of all the absurd charges brought against them, and accused others as their accomplices. Some of the accusers lived and died without ever acknowledging that they had stated any thing untrue, although they were reputed religiouswomen; but several of those, who confessed guilt, afterward acknowledged that they did it because they had been told it was the only way to save their lives. Men were sometimes tried as wizards; but this was comparatively rare. Some remnants of this superstition lingered long after the universal epidemic subsided. Within the last twenty years, an old woman in the vicinity of Boston, called Moll Pitcher, pretended to tell fortunes, and her claims to supernatural assistance were believed by many, especially by sailors.

The state of society in the United States bears a general resemblance to the English, though considerably modified by the peculiar circumstances of the country. In Europe, the female peasantry are universally more virtuous than those who (for want of a better term) are called the higher classes; even thecontadine[4]of voluptuous Italy are said to be generally modest in their character and deportment. In America there is no class corresponding to the peasantry; but nearly all the people are obliged to support themselves by their own industry. The result is favorable to female virtue. Intrigues with married women, so common in a more luxurious state of society, are almost unheard of in the United States. Should a Frenchman, or an Italian, address himself to an American woman in terms with which his own countrymen are quite familiar, he would generally find it very difficult to make himself understood. I by no means intend to say that profligacy does notexist, even in the most puritanical portions of our country—far, very far from it. The vicious class of females in our cities perhaps bears as large a proportion to the population, as in European towns; and among the respectable and genteel classes of society, there are individuals whose conduct is culpable; but these are exceptions to the general rule. The laws of modesty are never transgressed in dress, except by a few ultra-fashionables, and the opinion even of their own class is decidedly opposed to it. But a change is visibly coming over the face of society. Wealth is introducing luxury into our cities, and foreign refinements are coming with foreign vices in their train. The descendants of the Puritans allow their daughters to waltz, and think it no scandal to witness the exhibition of opera-dancers. The substantial body of the people have still a religious cast of character; but infidelity has taken strong hold in cities. The connection between religion and marriage is not obvious, but it is real. All infidels, whether they be found in France, England, or America, have a decided tendency to regard the institution of marriage as tyrannical. The lines of demarkation between different classes are becoming more distinct, and active industry is considered a bar to gentility. These causes may work slowly, or rapidly; but if their ultimate effects prove favorable to virtue, the history of America will differ from that of all other nations.

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