| OF THE INDIAN MIND. 265
that would lead them to defer taking a scalp
till after death from motives of humanity, but only
that in ordinary cases they would be compelled to
do so. It would, of course, be very seldom that a
scalp could be taken from a victim while he was
alive.
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH THE PRACTICE OF SCALPING.
The portion of the skin which was taken from
the head, in scalping an enemy was quite small,
only a few inches in diameter. All that was
essential was that it should include the crown of
the head—that is, the central point from which the
hair separates. The hair itself, however, which
grew from the other parts of the head was usually
cut off too, especially if it was long, and suitable to
be worked into fringes and other such ornaments.
A scalp, when taken from the head, was first
stretched in a sort of hoop to keep the skin dis-
tended while drying. This hoop was formed upon
the end of a long pole by bending the end round
into a circle, first cutting away a portion of the
ood at the end to make it sufficiently flexible.
The scalp was placed in the center of this hoop,
and fastened there by strings passing out in every
direction to the circumference—the long hair
hanging down the pole. The pole served, of
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