Savages

“ Such is the Life of those Savages. Tho’ there be some in the Southern Parts, not quite so stupid and brutal as those in the North, yet they are both Savages, who think of Nothing but what is present, love Nothing but what is obvious to the Senses, incapable of comprehending any Thing that is Spiritual; sharp and ingenious in what is for their own Advantage, without any Sense of Honour or Humanity; horribly cruel, perfectly united among themselves to their Nation and their Allies; but revengeful and merciless towards their Enemies. To conclude, their Shape, tho’ hideous, shews they are Men ”

“ On a mild and sunny morning a wonderful crowd of savages—men, women, and children—were seen crowding to the appointed station. The chiefs were dressed in truly gorgeous habiliments, of plumes, skins richly embroidered and fringed, and brilliantly colored. Their robes were more showy than any court-dress ever witnessed at Windsor Castle or the Tuileries. The warriors, with proud demeanor and stately tread, marched along, with quivers of arrows at their backs, and bows in their hands. ”

“ We are going on by short stages, quite well, as 221 far as we are concerned; but our Savages are all sick. We paddle [332] all the time, and do this the more because our people are sick. What ought not to be done for God, and for souls redeemed by the blood of the son of God! All our Savages are very much pleased with us, and would not have cared to take others on board; they speak well of us to those whom they meet, persuading them not to embark any others. ”

“ Savages attempt to inoculate themselves with moral and other virtues by making cuts in their bodies and inserting in the cuts the ashes of animals and plants which they suppose to be endowed with the virtues in question. Just as the savage thinks that he can swallow the moral and other virtues in the shape of food, so he fondly imagines that he can inoculate himself with them. ”

“ Instead of knocking our friends on the head and eating them as they had purposed, the savages came crouching down before them in the most abject manner, as if they were beings altogether of a different nature. ”

“ Being ignorant of the trap set for them, the savages galloped carelessly along until thousands of them were piled into the ditch, one on top of the other—a maimed, struggling, screaming mass of men, women, children, and horses. ”

“ The patience with which the savage would lie in the covert of the thicket, perhaps for one or several days, to watch the husbandman who might pass to his field or clearing, made the whole space around a settlement, and long reaches between the settlements, haunted as with imps of mischief. The savages, soon learning of the Sunday habits of the English in their rude temples, would steal upon the cabins, where only infants and the infirm were left, and ply the tomahawk, the scalping-knife, and the torch. ”

“ Like an army, exposed hourly to an attack from its foes, this heroic band of fifty men commenced its march in military array, watching with an eagle eye, knowing not but that at any moment hundreds of strongly mounted, well-armed savages might come rushing down upon them. ”

“ Savages—those that are truly stunted or depraved—dedicate nearly all their tales and sayings to the subject of physical kinship, of a curse on this or that tribe, of a taint in this or that family, of the invincible law of blood, of the unavoidable evil of places. ”

“ Bounding over that lovely sea, the Gloaming Star looked like some beautiful sea-bird.
Whatever might come of it, our heroes were determined to see something of the Sandwich Islands. But there was danger in their doing so. For but few white men ever ventured there in those days.
About Savages. There are, according to my own experience, very great differences, not only in physique, but in mental qualities, betwixt the savages—as they are called—of different parts of the world, and even between different tribes who live in the same vicinity, or within a few hundred miles of each other. ”

“ Their natural color is like that of those French beggars who are half-roasted in the Sun, and I have no doubt that the Savages would be very white if they were well covered. To describe how they were dressed would be difficult indeed. All the men, when it is a little warm, go naked, with the exception of a piece of skin which falls from just below the navel to the thighs. ”

“ The savages dealt their murderous blows with wonderous rapidity and precision, and though the hardy planters in the front ranks turned upon them with the butt ends of their muskets, the savages had evidently the advantage. ”

“ The second means of commending ourselves to the Savages, to induce them to receive our holy faith, would be to send a number of capable men to clear and cultivate the land, who, joining themselves with others who know the language, would work for the Savages, on condition that they would settle down, and themselves put their hands to the work, living in houses that would be built for their use ”

“ I know well there are persons of [40] good judgment who believe that, although the Savages are nomadic, the good seed of the Gospel will not fail to take root and bring forth fruit in their souls, although more slowly, as they can only be instructed at intervals. They imagine also that, if a few families come over here, as they are already beginning to do, the Savages will follow the example of our French and will settle down to cultivate the land. ”

“ he echoed, ironically. "So you are astonished, Professor, at having set foot on a strange land and finding savages? Savages! where are there not any? Besides, are they worse than others, these whom you call savages?" ”

“ The first things the poor Savages learn are oaths and vile and insulting words; and you will often hear the women Savages (who otherwise are very timid and modest) , hurl vulgar, vile, and shameless epithets at our people, in the French language ”

“ I thought a good deal about her narrative, and wondered much that men could be got to leave their comfortable homes, and travel thousands and thousands of miles across the fathomless seas, with the hope of converting a nation of treacherous savages, by whom they were sure to be slaughtered at the first outbreak of ill-feeling. ”

“ The indefatigable vigilance and persevering hostility of an unrelenting foe, required countervailing exertions on their part; and kept alive the life, which they delighted to live.
From the instant those establishments were made, and emigrants placed themselves in their vicinity, the Savages commenced their usual mode of warfare; and marauding parties were ever in readiness, to seize upon, those, whose misfortune it was to become exposed to their vigilance. ”

“ Imagine a body of about 3000 nearly naked savages, made as hideous as possible by paint, standing in close ranks, and performing a sort of recitative of what they would do with their enemies if they could lay hold of them. ”

“ It may be the upper religion with its bread and wine, or the under religion with its eye of newt and toe of frog: in both cases what is essential is the right materials. Savages may invoke their demons over the dying, but they do something else as well. To do them justice, they dance round the dying, or yell, or do something with their bodies. ”

“ I told them the true state of the case—that there were not more than a dozen or twenty of the savages at the most, and I hardly thought the chevalier would bring them down upon us. Yet, knowing that he might be in a mood for risking everything to recapture mademoiselle, I recommended that the men form themselves into two bands to ride in the front and in the rear, with the maidens between the two, and to start at once. We could go no faster, of course, than the charrettes could go, and the savages could easily overtake us if they desired ”

“ The savages have no knowledge whatever of this plant, and are not aware of its existence, although the above-mentioned [73] savage has the same name. The following day we made eight leagues. As we passed along the coast, we perceived two columns of smoke which some savages made to attract our attention. We went in the direction of them and anchored behind a small island near the main land, Prout’s Neckwhere we saw more than eighty savages running along the shore to see us, dancing and giving expression to their joy. Sieur de Monts sent two men together with our savage to visit them. ”

“ Besides, I fancied myself able to manage one, nay, two or three savages, if I had them, so as to make them entirely slaves to me, to do whatever I should direct them, and to prevent their being able at any time to do me any hurt. ”

“ The savages were more animated than before, and they wondered among themselves when the white man would be brought up from the settlement, and whether all or any of themselves would be relieved from guard duty, that they might witness the proceedings. ”

“ I confess that the Savages have no public or common prayer, nor any form of worship usually rendered to one whom they hold as God, and their knowledge is only as darkness. But it cannot be denied that they recognize some nature superior to the nature of man. ”

“ A fine escort was formed, consisting of all our Frenchmen; and after them came the Savages, two by two, with a modesty which savored in no wise of Barbarians. After the burial, the father of the dead man [28] gave a feast to the Savages, during which,—as he 251 did not eat, according to their custom, now singing, now talking,—he said, "I have lost my courage, the death of my son has undone me; at other times I have seen myself in the hands of our enemies, about to be cut to pieces and torn by their teeth, and I have never lost courage ”

“ Renewed Invasion of Savages AND now they had another broil with the three Englishmen; one of whom, a most turbulent fellow, being in a rage at one of the three captive slaves, because the fellow had not done something right which he bade him do, and seemed a little untractable in his showing him, drew a hatchet out of a frog-belt which he wore by his side, and fell upon the poor savage, not to correct him, but to kill him. ”

“ I have shown in my former letters how vindictive the Savages are toward their enemies, with what fury and cruelty they treat them, eating them after they have made them suffer all that an incarnate fiend could invent. This fury is common to the women as well as to the men, and they even surpass the latter in this respect. I have said that they eat the lice they find upon themselves, not that they like the taste of them, but because they want to bite those that bite them. ”

“ The character of the service in which they were incessantly employed gave both to men and horse a sort of Tartar-like sagacity which perhaps had never before been seen among the troops of a highly civilized people. Savages could scarcely have been more quick-sighted in discovering a pass, detecting an ambush, or descrying a distant enemy. ”

“ I directed the men in our barque to approach near the savages, and hold their arms in readiness to do their duty in case they noticed any movement of these people against us. ”

“ At this station, which was the sixth, the Renegade came to tell me that the Savages were greatly terrified; and my host, addressing me seriously, asked if I did not know some remedy for their misfortune. "There is not," said he, "enough snow to kill Moose, Beavers, and Porcupines; we find almost no game; what shall we do? Dost thou not know what may happen to us? ”

“ Speaking about the savages, to the Professor, Jim remarked: "There is always one thing which seems singular about these fellows. They are awfully quick at learning. Now, what I can't understand is, that, quick as they are, theyp. 32 do not seem to advance very much, but stay in the same rut right along."
The Professor smiled at the observation, as he replied: "Sir John Lubbock, a noted English naturalist, sums up his estimate of the savage mind in the following statement: 'Savages unite the character of childhood with the passions and strength of men.' Their utter simplicity is their weakness. ”

“ For to think of living as the Savages do seems to me out of all reason. And to prove this, the following is an example of their way of living: Manner of living of the Souriquois and Ethechemins.From the first land (which is Newfoundland) to the country of the Armouchiquois, a distance of nearly three hundred leagues, the people are nomads, without agriculture, never stopping longer than five or six weeks in a place. Pliny mentions a certain people called Ichthyophagi, i.e., Fish-eaters, living in the same way. These Savages get their living in this manner during three seasons of the year. ”

“ A warlike talk addresses to the crowd.
“ Dismount, my gallant heroes, one and all ;
“ And, with loud shouts, upon the Savage fall !
“ Our spies report, o’er all the plain is spread ⁠45
“ Arms, blankets, powder, tommahawks and lead.
“ These shall be yours, with these a warlike name,
“ Secures your Glory in the roll of fame.”
Our Hero ceased, they raise a dreadful cry ;
The Savages, alarmed, promiscuous fly ⁠50
To a thick cane-brake, where, secure from sight,
They hold a council, and resolve to fight. ”

“ When he had become developed out of some pre-existing animal, he was a mere savage, distinguishable from his predecessors only by the possession of some superior degree of mental power. Savages, like some other animals, form themselves into tribes or bands. Certain social instincts arise, out of which spring what are regarded as virtues. ”

“ The Savages have great fear of these people, and humor them lest they do them some injury. Little by little we shall learn more of the other Tribes, who are more sedentary in their habits; but, as to these where we now are with the French, they are wanderers only during six months of the year, which are the six Winter months,—roving here and there, according as they may find game, only two or three families erecting their cabins together in one place, two or three in another, and so on. ”