Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Relation Of A Captivity Among The Indians Of North America.*
away to another hut , which satisfied them . The whole night they kept drinking what liquor we had brought with us , and making a most hideous yelling , during which time they were also feasting upon poor Captain llobson ' s body ! This shocking piece of barbarity is practised only by some Oi the Indian tribes to the northward . The Six Nations , who use their priwhen alivemuch worse than those whose captives we were
soners , , , yet never eat human flesh like them . They do not devour it for the sake of food , but as a relig ious rite , or rather from a superstitious notion that it makes them prosper in war . They teach their children to be fond of it from their very infancy . The day after this , my master ' s son brought some pieces of the body into the hut , and roasted them upon a stick at the fire , and endeavoured at the same time to prevail on me to eat a bit , repeatedlassuring that Englishmen ' s flesh was very good to eat .
y me My master also desired me to taste it . 1 said that I would obey him in everything he bade me , and even in that if he insisted upon it ; but that it was very disagreeable to me , and that it was the only command I could feel the least hesitation in performing , and begged that he would
not force me to do it . . Thus , by a seeming readiness to obey , and to conform to their customs , I avoided eating the remains of my friend ; and I believe by thus showing a desire to please him , rather gained upon my master ' s affection . My hands were still kept tied behind my back , this being the second day of my captivity . Having never seen or heard anything of the poor soldiers who were in the boat , I concluded that they had shared the fate of their officera reflection which added the more to my
unhappy , uneasiness , as I feared I should not be more favourably dealt with m the end . However , towards the evening of that day , I saw Sir Roberts Indian boy , who informed me that he knew of some of the soldiers being alive . Thi ' s boy having lived long ivith the English , and speaking our language , made me think that he would desire to get free from the Indians , who used him much worse than the English ; I therefore thought I mig ht confide in him , so laid myself open to him , and told for which
him of a scheme I had formed our escaping together , was , that we should both get out of our respective huts in the night , when all were asleep ; meet at a certain place , and there untie each other ; and as he understood travelling in the woods , he would p ilot us to Fort Detroit , which was not above eighty English miles distant , each of us bringing with him some fish to subsist upon during our journey . He having agreed to this proposal , went off with an intention , as I supposed , of meeting me at the place appointed . However , towards the
end of the evening , I was surprised to see my master coming into tne hut , and looking very angrily at me , having in his hand a tbm wooden post and an axe . Without saying a word , he put one end ot the post into the ground , and tying the other to the roof of the hut , cut a notch in it about two feet from the ground , and spoke to me in an angry tone something which 1 did not understand , making signs to me to ne down backthen takin leg a little below the anklehe put it into
upon my ; g my , the notch agamst which he tied another piece of stick so close , that 1 could not ' move to turn upon my side , but lay upon my back , with my hands bound together . He then drew the ends of the rope underneath his body layin <* down with his squaw near me upon a beast skin . Thus I passed the nig ht like a criminal just before his execution , VOL in . 3 D
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Relation Of A Captivity Among The Indians Of North America.*
away to another hut , which satisfied them . The whole night they kept drinking what liquor we had brought with us , and making a most hideous yelling , during which time they were also feasting upon poor Captain llobson ' s body ! This shocking piece of barbarity is practised only by some Oi the Indian tribes to the northward . The Six Nations , who use their priwhen alivemuch worse than those whose captives we were
soners , , , yet never eat human flesh like them . They do not devour it for the sake of food , but as a relig ious rite , or rather from a superstitious notion that it makes them prosper in war . They teach their children to be fond of it from their very infancy . The day after this , my master ' s son brought some pieces of the body into the hut , and roasted them upon a stick at the fire , and endeavoured at the same time to prevail on me to eat a bit , repeatedlassuring that Englishmen ' s flesh was very good to eat .
y me My master also desired me to taste it . 1 said that I would obey him in everything he bade me , and even in that if he insisted upon it ; but that it was very disagreeable to me , and that it was the only command I could feel the least hesitation in performing , and begged that he would
not force me to do it . . Thus , by a seeming readiness to obey , and to conform to their customs , I avoided eating the remains of my friend ; and I believe by thus showing a desire to please him , rather gained upon my master ' s affection . My hands were still kept tied behind my back , this being the second day of my captivity . Having never seen or heard anything of the poor soldiers who were in the boat , I concluded that they had shared the fate of their officera reflection which added the more to my
unhappy , uneasiness , as I feared I should not be more favourably dealt with m the end . However , towards the evening of that day , I saw Sir Roberts Indian boy , who informed me that he knew of some of the soldiers being alive . Thi ' s boy having lived long ivith the English , and speaking our language , made me think that he would desire to get free from the Indians , who used him much worse than the English ; I therefore thought I mig ht confide in him , so laid myself open to him , and told for which
him of a scheme I had formed our escaping together , was , that we should both get out of our respective huts in the night , when all were asleep ; meet at a certain place , and there untie each other ; and as he understood travelling in the woods , he would p ilot us to Fort Detroit , which was not above eighty English miles distant , each of us bringing with him some fish to subsist upon during our journey . He having agreed to this proposal , went off with an intention , as I supposed , of meeting me at the place appointed . However , towards the
end of the evening , I was surprised to see my master coming into tne hut , and looking very angrily at me , having in his hand a tbm wooden post and an axe . Without saying a word , he put one end ot the post into the ground , and tying the other to the roof of the hut , cut a notch in it about two feet from the ground , and spoke to me in an angry tone something which 1 did not understand , making signs to me to ne down backthen takin leg a little below the anklehe put it into
upon my ; g my , the notch agamst which he tied another piece of stick so close , that 1 could not ' move to turn upon my side , but lay upon my back , with my hands bound together . He then drew the ends of the rope underneath his body layin <* down with his squaw near me upon a beast skin . Thus I passed the nig ht like a criminal just before his execution , VOL in . 3 D