Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/293

^6 sKULPiiro BY warriss. luur bjr thOiaid of p||^eD,ts to ^erabJLe a horn on tho crown of their head. Wtwt ttiat style of hair-dresH- inffwasis not stated. This naturally brinirs up the custom of many tribes having their hur clipped so a^ to leave a tuft at the top for the f rilow vrho got an op- portuaity to grasp the same, thus matdag a good hand-hole while running the knife around the man's crown who is to lose his- scalp. After careful re" search there cannot be found anything which throws light upon the origin of scalping. It woqM seem that if it was resorted to in 1540-1541, the Spaniards would hare mentioned, because there were frequent oppor- tunities for Indians to take scalps. With aU due re- spect for our own race, it locdcs a little as thcmgh they themselves originated the brutal practice. Tbam oaor elusion is arrived at after reading the foOowii^, which no doubt is reliable: "Scalping, the act peculiar to Nortii Ameri(»n Indian warfare of partly cutting, partly tearing off a piece of the skin of the head, -wiih the hair attached; whether the victim is alive or dead at the time does not effect the operation. The Indians, witii whom scalps are the trophies of victory, have always left a long lock or tuft on the scalp as a challenge. Boun- ties have in American history more than once been offered for scalps. In 1724, £100 (about $500) was of- fered by Massachusetts for Indian scalps; in 1754, during the French and Indian War, a bounty was offered by the French for British scaips, and by the colonies for Indian scalps; in 1755, Massachusetts of- fered £40 for every sc^p of a male Indian over twelve years of age and £20 for scalps of women and. children."