Miami Indian Preparation for War Ceremony
In preparing for war, the Miamis have a custom, peculiar to themselves.
Says Charlevoix: " After a solemn feast, they placed on a kind of altar, some
pagods made with bear-skins, the heads of which were painted green. All the
savages passed this altar, bowing their knees, and the jugglers led the van, hold-
ing in their bands a sack which contained all the things which they use in their
Conjurations. They all strive to exceed each other in their contortions, and as
any one distinguished himself in this way, they applauded him with great
shouts. When they had thus paid their first homage to the idol, all the people
danced in such confusion to the sound of a drum and a Cbeahicoue; and during
this time the jugglers make a show of bewitching some of the savages, who seem
ready to expire ; then, putting a certain powder upon their lips, they make them
recover. When this farce has lasted some time, he who presides at the feast,
having at his side two men and two women, runs through all the cabins to give
the savages notice that the sacrifices were going to begin. When he meets any
one in his way, he puts both his hands on his head and the person met embraces
his knees. The victims were dogs, and one hears on every side the cries of these
animals, whose throats they cut, and the savages, who howl with all their strength,
seem to imitate their cries. As soon as the flesh was dressed, they offered it, to the idols; then they ate it and burnt the bones. All this while the jugglers never
cease raising the pretended dead, and the whole ends by the distribution made
to these quacks of whatever is most to their liking in all the village."
" From the time that the resolution is taken to make war, till the departure
of the warriors, they sing their war-songs every night; the days are passed in
making preparations. They depute some warriors to go to sing the war-sung
amongst their neighbors and allies, whom they engage beforehand by secret
negotiations. If they are to go by water, they build or repair their canoes; if it is winter, they furnish themselves with snow-shoes and sledges. The raquets,
which they most have to wear on the snow, arc about three feet long, and about
fifteen or eighteen inches in their greatest breadth. Their shape is oval, end behind, which terminates in a point. Little sticks, placed across at five
or six inches from each end, serve to strengthen them, and the piece which is
before us is in the shape of a bow, where the foot is fixed and tied with leather
thongs. The binding of the raquet is made of slips of leather about a fourth part
of an inch wide, and the circumference is of light wood hardened by fire. * *
The sledges, which serve to carry the baggage, and, in case of need, the sick and
wounded, are two little boards, very thin, about half a foot broad, each board, and
six or seven feet long. The fore-part is a little bent upward, and the sides are
bordered by little bands, to which they fasten straps to bind what is on the sledge.
However loaded these carriages may be, a savage can draw them with ease by the
help of a long band of leather, which he puts over his breast, aud which they call
collars.
'• All things being ready, and the day of departure being come, they take
their leave with great demonstrations. * * * Lastly, they all meet at the
cabin of the chief. They find him armed as he was at the first day he spoke to
ihem, and as he always appeared in public from that day. They then paint their
faces, every one according to his own fancy, and all of them in a very frightful
manner. The chief makes them a short speech ; then hi; conies out of his cabin
singing his song of death. They all follow him in a line, keeping a profound
silence, and they do the same every morning, when they renew their march. The
women go before with the provisions, and when the warriors come up with them,
they give them their clothes, and remain almost naked — at least as much as. the
season will permit.
" Formerly, the arms of these people were bows and arrows, and a kind of
javelin, which, as well as their arrows, was armed with a point of bone, wrought
in different shapes. Beside this, they had what they call the' head-breaker.'. This is a little club, of very hard wood, the head of which is round, and has one side
with an edge, to cut. The greatest part have no defensive arms."
Such were their customs of war, less than 200 years ago, when the use of
firearms was far less common until at the present day. They were, however, equal
to the demands of the times, anil served well their puropose' in in'usin^ a spirit of stubborn bravery that, with the class of offensive and defensive weapons in use, was most formidable in its effects.
