The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-01-31
PAGE FIVE

part of Indian patriotism. II the Indi-
an scalp hunter objected at all to being
scalped himself it was not with, any
idea that his body was being desecrated
or disfgured but simply because he dis
liked the thought of having his scalp
counted by the enemies of his tribe to
add to it's glories at the expense in it
when it was at his own expense.
Indeed. many of the leading tribes
east of the Mississippi made a habit
of leaving 1.-The scalp lock" in shaw
ing their heads as a standing chal-
lenge to any greater brave who thought
he could take it to make the attempt
To have abolished scalping by shaving
off this single lock, after having shaved
away all the rest, would have seemed
a most unnatural proceeding. AS a
rule the Indians west of the river took
the greatest pride in their hair and
wore it without shaving. some of them
training it until when loosed on state
occasions it fell below their waists or
even to their heels. Catlin, who in
1882 left ST. Louis to study the Indians
regions. found this pride in their hair
very general among them. The only
evidence of greater pride he found
among them was that taken by
them in the hair of their enemies
which they frequently used for trim
ming the robes they reserved for great
festivals and state occasions. A Man
dan or an Apache. with a dress suit
trimmed with two or three dozen scalps.
forming an artistic fringe for it, would
not part with it at any price, no matter
how great the offer of cash made for
it. 1t was the one unmStakable evil
dence that he was, under thestandIrds
of his tribe, both a gentleman and n
patriot of the higest standing.
At this period when scalp hunting
was universal west of the Mississippi
not only amonS the Indians themselves
but among the trappers whom they
hunted when not hunting each oth2r
the French word coup" corrupted in
to "cou' was in general use in determ-
lining the social, political and moral
standing Of every male Indian in all
his impol tart relations to his tribe. All
depended on the number of "cOuf' n"
could count. When he could count
mis- first cou' he could become can
didate for initiation into the first degree
of one of the various Indian secret
societies, which looked after religion
and morals as well as the simple poll
tics of the tribe. To count cou'
meant to strike blow and the only
evidence accepted that this had been
done was that of a scalp. No unscalp-
ed enemy was counted. The scalp
must be shown before the candidate
for imitation could take even the first
degree in his lodge. The whole active
life of the Indian aside from his ac-
tivities in hunting became thus a pro-
cess of preparing for taking scalps Or
else of actually taking them. Every
Indian war was first of all a scalp
hunt, in which securing the scalp as
a trophy was of more importance than
actually Gripping the enemy. Indeed.
the North American Indians seldom
fought wars of determination against
each other. AS tribes they were usual
ly placable enough after series of
successful scalping expeditions, so that
their raids generally ended in a treaty
between theOld men of the tribes, to be
kept until the young men who had not
counted a "cOu'' could no longer be re-
strained from another scalp hunt
Chicago Chronicle.