Kitchi-Gami: Life Among the Lake Superior Ojibway

CHAPTER II

THE L.'IDIAN AGE!\"T. 18 CHAPTER II. TD INDIAN AGBNT-l!'AC:£ PAlNTING-CUliJOUS PATTBRNS-VA.LUE OJ!' COLOUBS-lOY AND KO'Uli.NING-A FA.LSB INDIAN-INDIAN DANDIBsTKB P:&OCBSSION-WAR SONGS-KBBOIC DBBDS-INDIAN VANITY-WAT• TAB AND ms SCALPs-TO WAR TBAIL-A liOLD BXPLOIT-SCALPING A IIOUX-TKB CA.LUKBT OJ!' PEACB-SIGNA.L OJ!' WAR-THE AGENT'S ADVICE -AN ENEKY OJ!' DANCING-THE DISCOVEBY DANCE-A DISAPPOINTMENT. I HAD scarcely settled comfortably on my island ere one of the great steamers that now traverse Lake Superior anived, bringing several influential persons, among others, the chief commissioner of Indian affairs. The Indians call him their " Great Father from Washington," as they call the President their "Great Father in Washington." They call everybody at all connected with government, Father, and, judging from the great number of fathers these children of the desert possess, they must be excellently taken care o£ During the whole period of our payment the number of fathers, great and small, was astounding. No sooner had the news of the Great Father's arrival spread around, than the Indians prepared to welcome him with a solemn full-dress procession, a 14 FACE-PAINTING. war-dance, and the presentation of the calumet of peace. The preparations for the ceremony began in various tents at an early hour, and the drum could be heard in the tent of a great chief, and his flagstaff, adorned with many gay feathers, was erected. I wandered from tent to tent and looked at the preparations , and, as I already boasted of several acquaintances , I could step in here and there and watch the toilet of a warrior. It is to a European a most comical sight to notice a savage before a looking-glass. Vanity and self-admiration are as visible in him as in a Parisian coquette. He even outvies her; for while she changes the fashion of her bonnet and the colour of her dress three or four times a year, the Indian alters the colour on his face -for his attention is confined to this portion of his person-daily. I have watched three or four handsome young Indians here, and saw them every day wearing a different pattern on their faces. They belonged to the aristocracy of their band, and were evidently dandies. I saw them lounging along very seriously and with great dignity, with green or yellow stripes on their noses, their long pipes under their arms, and wrapped up in their wide blanket-cloaks. They were always together, and evidently formed a clique. Daily, when I had the opportunity, I drew the pattern their faces displayed, and at length obtained a collection, whose variety even astonished mysel£ The strange combinations produced in the kaleidoscope may be termed weak when compared to what an Indian's imagination produces on his forehead, nose, and cheeks. I will try to give some account of them, as far as words will reach. CURIOUS PATTERNS. 15 Two things struck me most in their arrangement of colours. First, the fact that they did not trouble themselves at all about the natural divisions of the face; and, secondly, the extraordinary mixture of the graceful and the grotesque. At times, it is true, they did observe those natural divisions produced by nose, eyes, mouth, &c. The eyes were surrounded with regular coloured circles ; yellow or black stripes issued harmoniously and equidistant from the mouth. Over the cheeks ran a semicircle of green dots, the ears forming the centre. At times, too, the forehead was traversed by lines running parallel to the natural contour of that feature. This always looked somewhat human, so to speak, because the fundamental character of the face was unaltered. Usually, however, these regular patterns do not suit the taste of the Indians. They like contrasts, and frequently divide the face into two halves, which undergo different treatment. One will be dark-say black or blue-but the other quite light, yellow, bright red, or white. One will be crossed by thick lines made by the five fingers, while the other is arabesqued with extremely fine lines produced by the aid of a brush. This division is produced in two different ways. The line of demarcation sometimes runs down the nose, so that the right cheek and side are buried in gloom, while the left looks like a flower-bed in the sunshine. At times...